Anything We Want
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. AU - no zombies. Daryl has finally gotten himself away from his brother and though he has no idea where to go now, he knows he just needs to get there. Beth has dreams of performing on a stage somewhere other than in her small Georgia town. Her daddy tells her to be smart so picking up the hitchhiker from the side of the road may not be what he had in mind.
1. Hitting the Road

**A new story from me and I can't even explain how excited I am for this one. I have many adventures planned for Daryl and Beth on this road trip. This first chapter moves a bit quickly but it will slow down from here on out.**

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…

 **Chapter One.**

Daryl Dixon moved around the dingy motel room as quickly as he could, making sure that he didn't leave anything behind. He knew it really didn't matter if he did or not. Nothing he owned was worth anything but he needed everything he could get at the moment, not knowing when he would get some money to buy anything else.

He crammed his shirts and extra pair of jeans into the duffel bag and the pack of cigarettes from the table along with the lighter. Both were Merle's but he doubted his older brother would notice either were gone. He was almost out the door before he stopped himself and went into the bathroom, grabbing the complimentary bottles of shampoo and little bars of soap.

He didn't look back as he left the room, closing the door a little too harshly behind him, feeling a wave of satisfaction as it slammed behind him, echoing across the dark and quiet parking lot. He looked to the shitty truck and his brother's bike but he walked past both without stopping. Both were Merle's and stealing cigarettes was one thing. He wouldn't take either of those things for himself. If he did, that would only cement Merle coming after him and Daryl just wanted to leave his brother behind and not worry about having to look over his shoulder for him.

Daryl hefted the duffel bag onto his shoulder, stopping for only a moment to light one of the cigarettes, and walked across the parking lot, past the motel's flickering neon sign that advertised vacancy and air conditioning, and down the gravel shoulder of the two-lane road. He knew Merle wouldn't come back into the room until well past dawn and even then, he'd be too drunk and high to notice him gone. And by the time he did notice, Daryl figured he would be far enough away and Merle wouldn't be able to track him down.

Cars and semis zipped past him and mosquitoes buzzed in his ears but Daryl just kept walking and smoking, thinking about what he wanted to do. He was walking in no particular direction with no particular destination in mind. He had thought about doing this so many times – just getting his shit and walking out on Merle – but now that he had actually done it, he realized that he had never made any further plans past that first step. He knew, deep down, that he never expected himself to actually get past that first step.

But here he was. Walking down some country road in the middle of the night, in the middle of Georgia, and he knew he had to put some distance between him and his older brother because if Merle found him, he would put his arm around Daryl's shoulders and promise him it would be different from here on out and Daryl would fall for it because Daryl always fell for it. Merle was the only family he had and he had spent so many years of his life just blindly going along with him, always a little unsure about what was going on but never speaking up.

Tonight, though, it finally was just too much for Daryl and he knew he had to get out. He couldn't do this anymore. Going from one town to the next, just drifting around, sitting there and watching Merle deal and use almost just as much, never having any plan past what town they would go to next. And Daryl had told himself that he didn't want much more than that. But tonight, watching Merle help some girl stick a needle in her arm while her baby sat in the corner of the room made Daryl's stomach roll and suddenly, the air around him was too hot and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

He didn't know what else to do except get the hell away from there. Away from it all.

But now, he didn't know what to do or where to go. He had never even been out of Georgia before and couldn't understand how people did this. Just went out and started whole new lives for themselves. Of course, most of those people probably weren't stupid rednecks who didn't know how to do much besides selling drugs.

Daryl knew he was pretty much a waste of space in this world. Didn't contribute much of anything and no one sure as hell was going to miss him when he was gone.

He took one last drag of the cigarette and dropped it to the ground, stubbing it with his toe before he continued walking away. His stomach was grumbling and he was reminded that he hadn't eaten anything since a small bag of potato chips from a vending machine more than a few hours ago. He only had a few bucks on him though and not knowing the next time when he would get the chance to get more money, he decided to just let his stomach keep grumbling. It wouldn't be the first time he go hungry in his shitty life.

He could see the headlights of a car coming up behind him getting closer and closer and Daryl wasn't sure what made him do it but he looked over his shoulder and it took him a moment to see the model. Silver Subaru. One of those little SUVs with the four wheel drive that could help if ever stuck in Georgia mud. He couldn't see who was driving it though; momentarily blinded by the headlights and everything else too dark around him.

Despite that, he found himself sticking out his thumb and the car was already slowing down, pulling onto the shoulder, gravel crunching beneath the tires. Daryl hefted his bag higher onto his shoulder and walked around to the passenger side, remembering that he had thrown his hunting knife into the front of the bag. He would be able to reach for it quickly if it came to that.

The window rolled down and he bent down to look in to see who had stopped.

"Hi!" The young blonde woman – or was she young enough to still be a girl? Daryl couldn't tell – smiled at him from behind the wheel. "Need a ride?"

"Generally why people stick their thumbs out on the side of the road," he grunted.

She just kept smiling though and he heard the click as the doors were unlocked. He hesitated for just a moment though. Why the hell had this girl stopped for him? Daryl had decided she was still a girl – no way was she over twenty – and she was driving this nice car and smiling at him as if they had known one another for years and her kindness almost made him want to take a step back from her.

He could hear music coming from the radio though she had dialed the volume down when they had started talking and the interior of the car smelled like chocolate. There was no way a guy like him could get into a car like this with a girl who looked like she was just coming home from cheerleading practice. He could just imagine how he looked to her which led him back to his original question.

Why the hell had this girl stopped for him? He could be a mass murderer or an escaped convict or mental patient for all she knew. And she looked like she weighed less than most bucks he had hunted so there was no way she would be able to fight him off – not that he would ever attack her. Despite how he looked, he wasn't like that but she didn't know that. Girls – especially girls who looked like her – couldn't be too careful in this world nowadays. Didn't she have a daddy to tell her that?

"So, in or out?" She broke through his thoughts. "You're letting all of the cold air out."

Daryl took a quiet, deep breath to himself and then swinging the duffel bag off his shoulder, he opened the door and slid into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut behind him. She smiled and locked the doors and rolled the window up once more. She looked at him and he looked at her though the lights from the dashboard didn't provide nearly enough for him to get that clear of a look.

He could tell one thing though. She was pretty.

"Where are you headed?" She asked and she was still smiling at him and maybe she didn't have to know how to defend herself because her smiling at him like that was enough to make him feel like the nervous one.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders. "Nowhere in particular."

"Me, neither." She seemed to be smiling even wider now. "Well, I was going to head to New York City but I've been thinking about LA for the past couple of hours. Have you ever been to LA?" She asked.

He just stared at her and didn't say anything.

"I think I'm going to head out that way. It just seems right. And the drive will be easier now with two people."

Daryl felt his brow furrow. "Ain't you 'fraid of me?" He asked because this girl was talking and going on and on as if this was some whole planned road trip between them and she wouldn't stop smiling and he was wondering if he should have gotten into the car with her. Maybe she was escaped mental patient.

Her mouth snapped shut at that and she stared at him, almost studying him. "Should I be afraid of you?" She then asked, her eyes staring into him in such a way, he almost thought she was trying to cast a spell on him like some witch.

"For all you know, I could hurt you or rob you blind," he answered.

She shook her head at that. "No, you wouldn't do any of that."

He wanted to ask her how the hell she could possibly know that but he stayed silent and just kept staring at her. The cold air blowing from the vents rustled a few strands of her blonde hair.

"Besides," she was back to smiling again. "I don't have anything to steal."

"Got more than I got right now," Daryl grumbled to himself.

She stuck her hand out then, suddenly, and Daryl couldn't help but flinch as if she was going to slap him. It was an instinct, literally beat into him when he was a kid and one he wasn't able to shake even now, nearing forty.

"I'm Beth." If she noticed his flinch, she wasn't acting like it and just kept smiling.

Daryl sighed as if this whole thing was annoying him and he stared at her hand before lifting his eyes to her. "Daryl," he grunted and didn't shake her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Daryl," Beth said. "Well, shall we?"

With that, she shifted the gear stick back into the drive, checked the side view mirror before pulling back onto the road and drove both of them away. Daryl couldn't help but look into the side view mirror, watching as the motel sign grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared completely from view.

…

"Now, you stop when you start to feel tired," Hershel said as he loaded her bag himself into the back hatch of the car. "There's no need for you to push yourself until you're exhausted and can't keep your eyes open."

"I know, daddy," Beth said because even if he hadn't told her the same thing at least a dozen times already, she would still know. Common sense and all of that.

She smiled and stepped to him then, wrapping her arms around his middle, and Hershel smiled, hugging her close and kissing her head.

"You give me a call as soon as you're somewhere for the night," he said. "I don't care how late it is. I won't be able to sleep a wink anyway unless I know you're safe."

"I promise," she nodded and gave him one more squeeze before stepping back.

She took a moment to take one last look around the farm; the farm she had spent her entire life on. And while she loved the farm more than any other place on earth, she had never thought she would spend her entire life here.

There was an entire world out there and Beth Greene was ready to see it. She was twenty-one, almost twenty-two, a newly college-graduate and her time had come. She wouldn't be gone forever. She had promised this to her daddy and to herself as well because no matter where she went or what she wound up doing, this would always be her home and she wouldn't be able to stay away for the rest of her life. She just knew there was a world outside of the farm and she wanted to see it and experience it and _live_ in it before she came back and settled here for good.

"Love you, daddy," Beth smiled at him as she got into the car.

Otis had looked it over that morning, making sure the tank was full and the oil was changed and the brake pads weren't worn and just like her, the car was ready to go.

"Love you, Bethy," Hershel smiled.

She had been nervous when she had first come to this decision the month before. She was the only one still here. Mama and her older brother, Shawn, had passed years earlier and Maggie had moved to Atlanta the year before to live with her boyfriend and the only people Hershel had were her, Otis and his wife, Patricia.

But Hershel reminded her for the countless time throughout her life that he was pretty much the most understanding daddy in the world and he had just smiled and gave her his blessing and reminded her that it was her life to live.

"Be smart!" Hershel called out to her one more time as she began driving down the dirt drive, sticking her hand out the window and giving one last wave and honk of the horn.

Her heart was thumping and her stomach was fumbling but she couldn't stop smiling. She was doing it. She was really doing it. After all of the dreaming and thinking, she was pulling onto the road and driving in whatever direction she wished and though she had no destination in mind, she was on her way.

She had been driving for a couple of hours, heading south towards Florida before she changed her mind and started heading west instead. The sun was set by this point and she honestly had no idea where she was but she kept her eyes out for a motel she could possibly stay at for the night. A _cheap_ motel because even though she had emptied her savings account, she felt no need to blow it on a room she would only be in for a few hours.

But the first motel she passed had most of the letters burned out in the sign and it looked like one of the settings she used to see on episodes of _Cops_ – Shawn's favorite television show – and something told her to keep on going.

She wasn't even a mile away when she saw something on the side of the road. No, not something. _Someone_. A man walking with a bag over his shoulder and as she got closer to him, she saw the blue jeans and tee-shirt he was wearing and the dark hair. She thought of her daddy's words and she knew that picking up a hitchhiker wasn't what Hershel had in mind when he told her to be smart. But that man wasn't necessarily hitchhiking. It wasn't like he was holding his thumb out. Oh, there it was!

She had never even dreamt of picking up a stranger from the side of the road before and she knew that a girl couldn't be too careful nowadays but she had a small canister of pepper spray in her purse that Otis had given her and wasn't this whole thing about her getting out here and living a little?

Without a second thought, she pulled her car over and watched him come over.

Well, one thing could be said about him. He was quite handsome in a way she hadn't been expecting. He had a lean body but obvious muscle build and oh goodness, she had never seen arms like his before. He had hair growing on his chin and he was in need of a haircut and yet, he was able to pull that sort of look off well.

He smelled like cigarette smoke when he finally got in and sat down beside her and she almost opened her mouth to tell him that he couldn't smoke in her car but he made no movement to show her that that was what he was wanting to do.

She had been driving for almost twenty minutes and they hadn't exchanged another word with one another. She had a mixed CD playing and a song from Taylor Swift's _1989_ album was playing and she began singing softly along. She kept her eyes out for another motel but so far, they had passed nothing but trees and lit-up billboards, advertising churches or lawyers.

"I'm starving," she suddenly announced to him. "Can you do me a favor? I have a bag in the backseat full of food. Can you grab me a sandwich? And take one for yourself."

From the corner of her eye, she could see Daryl staring at her and for a moment, he didn't move. She didn't know why. It was just a sandwich and she was starving and she had been pretending to not hear his own stomach grumbling beside her.

But finally, he turned in his seat and found the bag, pulling out a sandwich in a plastic baggie, handing it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled. "And one for yourself, too, Daryl."

"Ain't hungry," he grunted.

"Shut up and take a sandwich. It's just white bread and peanut butter. When we pass a grocery store, we'll buy more."

He didn't move to get one and she sighed. She didn't even know him and she was already thinking he was the most stubborn man she had ever met. She took her eyes off the road long enough to give him her best cutting look; a look she had learned and perfected from her own southern mama and it must have worked on him because he finally reached back and took out another sandwich for himself.

She smiled and hummed along with the song as she took a large bite of her sandwich. From the corner of her eye, she could see Daryl take a bite from his own and seeing him eat, she wasn't sure why but it made her want to smile. So she did.

"Thanks," he mumbled then through a mouthful of bread and peanut butter.

Beth just smiled wider. "You're welcome. We're going to be living on these for a few days. I also have some apples and bags of potato chips. And we'll keep our eye out for a grocery store. Right now though, we need to find a motel for the night."

"Got some money," he said. "I got the room tonight."

"Thank you," she smiled at that, taking her eyes off the road again long enough to flash it to him but he was staring straight ahead through the windshield, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Beth had no idea how within thirty minutes, she had picked up a strange man from the side of the road, had shared one of her sandwiches with him and was now talking about spending the night at a motel with him.

And she had no idea how it felt all so perfectly natural.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	2. Pay Your Way

**As always, your response to the first chapter was just amazing. Thank you so much for all of the reviews, likes and follows. I'm very excited for what I have planned for this story and I love that so many of you share my excitement. I have quite a few things planned for this one and I can't wait to share it all with you!**

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 **Chapter Two.**

Daryl couldn't be too sure as to what the hell had happened. Twelve hours ago, he had woken up on the couch in a motel room that smelled like feet with Merle snoring away in the bed and now, he was standing in another motel lobby but this time, he had a companion that was the furthest away from his brother as possible.

He glanced at Beth over his shoulder as he stood at the front desk and she was looking at a table of pamphlets set up in front of the large front office window. He really had no idea what he was doing there, with her, and he really didn't get how she was acting as if this whole thing happening was normal; as if she hadn't picked him up from the side of the road and they were complete strangers to one another.

And he didn't get why he was just going along with this. If he was anything like his brother, he would wait until this girl was asleep in the room and then he would steal her car and her sandwiches and anything else she had in there. That would teach her to be too-trusting of anything in this world. The world was shitty and full of shitty people and this girl had to learn that somehow.

But Daryl wasn't anything like Merle. That was why he finally left after all of this time. And Daryl knew there were far worse traveling companions to have than Beth. Her car smelled like chocolate and she smelled like something sweet, too. Not that he was smelling her. It was just impossible to shut his nose off when the vents blowing the cold air brought her scent right over to him. And she had given him one of her sandwiches and she sang along to songs on the radio with what he was pretty sure was the sweetest voice he had ever heard. He didn't know why she was being so friendly towards him; kind and so open. He had never met anyone like her.

The manager finally stepped from the back room and gave a small, tired smile when he saw them – as if he had just been woken up from a nap. Daryl didn't smile back, his brain thinking quickly of what to do. He only had six dollars in his pocket but he thought of ways he and Merle – mostly him – had been able to get rooms when they were short on cash. Hopefully, this man would be open to it.

"G'evenin'," the man greeted in a thick southern drawl.

"How much is a room for the night?" Daryl asked, not making a move to take what money he had from his pocket.

"Thirty," the man answered as he grabbed the guestbook for Daryl to sign.

"I was wonderin' if you had any odd jobs 'round here that needed fixin'," Daryl said, staring at the man straight in the eye. "We don't have that much money on us and I'll work for the room. I'm pretty good with my hands."

Beth suddenly appeared beside him. "He is," she said with the confidence of someone who knew. Daryl felt the back of his neck flush, just imagining what the man was thinking and how this girl knew Daryl was so good with his hands. "He can fix pretty much anything," she continued, lying with ease and giving the man a smile as sweet as sugar.

If the man had been about to protest and tell them to get the hell out, Beth's smile seemed to freeze him in place. He looked at her, as if in a trance, and Beth just kept smiling as if she was performing a magic spell over him. Daryl couldn't really blame the man. He was pretty sure he was just like that, too, the first time she had smiled at him.

The manager lingered on Beth for one moment more before looking to Daryl again.

"Got a nasty clogged shower drain," he said. "You clear it up, I reckon I can give you a room for the night. You two don't look like you'll trash it."

"Of course we won't," Beth said. "And thank you so much for doing this."

Daryl almost smirked when he saw the man visibly blush at Beth before he reached for the master set of keys. He handed Beth another key with an orange plastic tag hooked on the ring with the number 7 stamped on it in white, clearly already thinking that Daryl would be able to clear the drain. Beth thanked him again and they followed him from the office.

"Do you really know how to fix things?" Beth asked Daryl in a whisper.

He couldn't help but smirk a little. "If not, guess we'll be sleepin' in the car tonight."

And that made her giggle softly. "I'll help," she then told him. "I don't know how to do anything but I can learn."

Daryl nodded, not arguing. The manager stopped in front of a door next to the front office that opened up to the utility closet where all of the cleaning and maintenance supplies were kept. He grabbed a red toolbox and handed it to Daryl. It felt a little light to him and he just hoped it would have what he needed.

There was something about the idea of sleeping in a car. It wouldn't bother him in the least but there was something about the idea of _Beth_ sleeping in a car that bothered him. She wasn't the kind of girl who should do that sort of thing. He wondered if she had any money to get the room herself. If she did, she didn't speak up about it.

The manager unlocked the door to room two. It was a typical motel room. Carpet. Two beds with some floral design comforter. An old television. A dresser and mirror. A painting of flowers hanging on the wall. These places loved flowers. Flowers were inoffensive to most people.

The bathroom was small and tiled in white and pink that reminded him of Pepto-Bismol. It also looked like the motel's maid didn't take her job too seriously. Daryl glanced over at Beth to see if she noticed too but Beth was looking to the manager, listening as he explained that some girl with long hair was staying in here for a couple of days and he was blaming her for the clog.

"Come find me when you're done," the manager said and then left them alone.

Daryl set the toolbox down on the floor and knelt down beside the tub. He ran the water for a moment, watching as it began gathering in the tub and when he shut the water off, it drained slowly, taking almost a full minute to do so. He didn't say anything, well aware of Beth watching him from over his shoulder.

"You really know how to fix things?" She asked him as he grabbed the wrench from the toolbox and got to work. He nodded, not saying anything. "How do you learn something like that? I'm so hopeless when it comes to things like this. I feel like I don't know how to do anything. I'm lucky I know how to change a light bulb."

Daryl almost felt his lips twitching at that one but he still remained silent.

"Oh! I was reading a few of the pamphlets in the front office," Beth continued. "There are a couple of things I want to do while we're in Alabama, if you don't mind. You're not in a hurry, are you?"

Daryl was quiet at that, thinking it over. Was he in a hurry? He didn't even know where the hell he was going.

He figured that Merle had probably realized he was gone by now. He was sober enough by this time at night before going out and getting trashed all over again and he would have seen Daryl and his things gone from the room. Daryl doubted that Merle would come look for him in Alabama because even though it was right next to Georgia, Daryl had never left the state before in his life and Merle probably wouldn't think that he would.

"Nah, 'm not in a hurry," he finally replied.

"Good." She seemed to beam as if happy with the answer. "I was going to suggest we go to the World's Largest Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. Do you like motorcycles?" She asked.

Did he like motorcycles? He loved them. Probably missed Merle's bike more than anything else already but he didn't say that. He just shrugged.

"But the museum has an admission so I was thinking we should just stick to the free stuff," she said. "There's the world's largest office chair in Anniston and then Bamahenge in Elberta which is an exact full-size fiberglass Stonehenge. You know Stonehenge with all of the heavy rock formations and no one knows how they got there? Some people think druids but some people think aliens. I don't see myself getting to the real Stonehenge anytime soon so I would love to see a fiberglass one."

Daryl reached into the drain and pulled a clump of tangled long red hair from the pipe. He held it up and this time, he did smirk when Beth made a face.

"Lovely," she commented. She lifted the trash can and he flicked it in.

He ran the water again and watched as it went down easily now. He began cleaning everything up.

"Success," Beth beamed. "You got us our room for the night."

He stood up and he realized how small the bathroom was when he seemed to tower above her, their chests nearly touching. Beth tilted her chin and looked up at him and he couldn't help but look down to her pale face and note that she had the biggest eyes he had probably ever seen on a person. They reminded him of the eyes of a doe out in the woods and they made him feel damn nervous; made his throat feel scratchy and feel sweat on the small of his back.

Who the hell was this girl? He didn't even know her last name; didn't want to know. He wasn't sure how long he was gonna ride along with her but he knew he'd stick with her for a couple more days at least. Maybe until they were in Mississippi or Louisiana. That would be far enough away without having to worry about Merle anymore and Beth could keep on going to California; not like she needed him to go with her and what the hell would a guy like him do out in California anyway?

…

There was something about Daryl that Beth liked; something about him that she trusted and she didn't know what it was because he definitely wasn't some big talker who was an open book around her. He seemed to think grunting was the same as using the English language but there was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. All she knew was that she was rarely wrong when it came to her first opinions of people.

She had taken a shower and had changed into her pajamas, now sitting on one of the beds and watching some nature program on the television on the dresser about grizzly bears and she could hear the water running as Daryl used the bathroom.

She wondered if she had lost her mind since leaving the farm just that afternoon. If her daddy or sister could see her now, they would surely pitch a fit. Sharing a room with a strange man she knew absolutely nothing about. What if he tried to force himself on her or what if he robbed her blind while she slept? She knew that it was smart to consider these things and yet, she couldn't imagine Daryl doing any of that.

How could she know absolutely nothing about him except his name and yet, know so much about him at the same time?

She had placed her cell phone on the nightstand table and she grabbed it now, sitting back against the headboard as she listened the phone ring. Her daddy picked up on the third ring.

"Hi, Bethy," he said, already knowing it was her, and Beth burst into a smile the instant she heard him as if she hadn't seen him for weeks.

"Hi, daddy. Checking in," she said.

"Where are you?" He asked and she heard something creak, letting her know that he had sat down in his easy chair in the living room.

"Just over the border in Alabama. And I'm going to do some of those silly roadside attractions tomorrow. I'll take pictures and send them to you," she promised.

"And everything else is alright? The car is running alright? You eating enough?"

"I've only been gone for seven hours, daddy," she reminded him. "But yes to it all."

The bathroom door opened and she lifted her eyes, watching Daryl step out, still wearing his blue jeans but he had changed into a plain white tee-shirt. He glanced at her before quickly looking away, going to his duffel bag on the floor.

Beth had already decided that she wasn't going to tell Hershel about picking up Daryl. He wouldn't understand if she told him that she had picked up a man from the side of the road. He would yell and flip out and demand she come home right now.

She watched as Daryl sat down on the foot of the other bed, his arms on his knees, and his eyes staring at the television.

"And be sure you find a church on Sunday morning so you can attend service," Hershel was saying.

"I promise I'll try to find one," Beth nodded.

She then couldn't help but wonder if Daryl would come to church with her.

She looked at him watching the television as her dad talked about the conversation he had had with Maggie earlier that evening and her eyes couldn't help but stare at his arm muscles. She had never considered herself the kind of girl to drool over a muscular man. She had two ex-boyfriends – Jimmy from high school and Zach from college – and neither one had been exactly built. And while Daryl wasn't overly muscular himself – quite lean actually – his bicep muscles seemed to flex and bulge and Beth swore she could feel her throat growing dry at the sight of them.

She was snapped back to the conversation at the sound of Hershel yawning. "I'm pretty tired, too, daddy. I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Tomorrow," Hershel said in that tone that both of his daughters knew; a tone which left little room for argument and Beth could do nothing but nod in agreement.

"Tomorrow. Good night. Love you," she said, sitting up away from the headboard.

"Love you, too, Bethy. Good night," Hershel responded before ending the call.

Beth slid her cell phone back onto the nightstand. "I have a taste for chocolate," she then informed Daryl, standing up. His eyes moved from the television to look at her and she went to go to her black Converse sneakers on the floor, tugging them on. "There was a vending machine by the front office. Do you want anything?"

"You gonna go out like that?" Daryl asked, standing up.

She looked down to the short pink pajama shorts with red hearts printed on them and her worn grey John Mayer concert tee-shirt. She frowned, confused, looking back to him.

"Yes," she answered, wondering what was wrong with what she was wearing.

"Tell me what you wan' and I'll get it," Daryl said, taking a step towards her. She noticed that his eyes never lowered from her face; as if he was afraid to look lower.

"I don't know what the vending machine has though so I can't tell you," she said. She went to the door, opening it, immediately being hit with the night's humidity. She heard the crickets and a nearby croak of a frog. "Come with me if you want."

She didn't actually expect him to come but Daryl followed her from the room down the wooden walkway past the other rooms to the vending machines. One for snacks, one for drinks and the last for ice. The three hummed loudly as she stood in front of the glass, looking over the chocolate options.

She kept all of her money hidden in her makeup bag and held a couple of crumbled dollar bills in her fist now. It wasn't as if she was keeping it from Daryl but she supposed she was in a way. Not because she thought he would steal it for himself but because she wanted to pretend, herself, that she didn't have that much money. All of the money in the makeup bag was all of the money she had in this world and she wanted to see how far she could get with spending as little as possible. Who knew how things would be once she got to California? She needed to save that money for as long as she could and she really liked the way Daryl was doing things. She hoped that would work at the other motels from here on out.

She finally decided on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and she fed the machine her dollar, the claw dropping her choice and spitting out two quarters in change. She took both and without a word, she turned to Daryl, holding the coins out.

"Nah, I'm good," he shook his head, his hands shoved in the front pockets of his jeans.

She ignored it though and kept holding out the quarters towards him. He stared at her and she stared right back. She felt a mosquito on the side of her neck but she wasn't going to move a muscle right now. Not until he took these coins.

When he finally did – after almost two minutes – she instantly slapped her neck but it was too late. She swore it was already starting to itch.

"I've read that mosquitos are just attracted to some people more than others," she said as she stepped aside and Daryl took her place in front of the vending machine. "Something they can smell in the blood or something like that. I try to eat plenty of bananas because of the potassium and mosquitos are supposed to hate the potassium but it never seems to help."

Daryl didn't say anything and he made his selection. She saw he chose a Butterfinger candy bar. She took the other dollar and went to the soda machine next. She chose the root beer immediately and it spit out the bottle. She loved that these vending machines were so cheap and she smiled as she received a quarter back in change.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, realizing what she had done. "I'm going to share with you and I didn't even ask if you like root beer."

"'s fine," he shrugged.

For some reason, she felt like smiling at him so she did. "Root beer's my favorite."

He didn't say anything and they began heading back towards their room.

"And tomorrow, we'll fill the bottle with water from the sink so we'll have it for the road," she said and he gave a nod in agreement. She stopped outside their room and turned towards him without entering. She held out her right hand instead. "By the way, it's Beth Greene," she said.

She didn't expect him to take her hand. He hadn't when she had offered it to him in the car earlier when she had first introduced herself. And he looked at her now without taking it but like she had with the quarters, she didn't drop her hand.

And finally, just like he had then, he now raised his hand and touched hers, shaking it for only a second before dropping his. The touch was long enough though for her to feel that his hand was warm and slightly rough.

"Daryl Dixon," he said in his low, gruff voice.

This time, Beth practically beamed.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**

 **Daryl and Beth are going to the roadside attractions in the next chapter. And PS - Daryl will have a crossbow in this story. I'm not going to tell you how, why or when though.**


	3. Gravy Train

**This chapter is mostly Daryl's POV with a little of Beth's at the end. The next chapter will begin with Beth's POV because it's kind of all about her and it's the chapter that I first thought of that gave me the idea for this story. I hope you like this chapter in the meantime.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter Three.**

He was the one driving today. They had woken up early that morning – Beth being a natural early riser and Daryl had almost forgotten that he was, too, when he didn't have Merle around – and they had packed the car back up, turned the key into the front office and Daryl noticed that Beth was yawning every two minutes.

"You a'right?" He asked her as they stood outside the car and she was leaning against the driver's door, her hand smothering the countless yawn.

She nodded. "Yeah. I just need coffee. I can't really function without coffee."

Daryl smirked a little at that. "We'll stop somewhere." He gave a nod. "You one of those five dollars a cup kind of coffee drinker?"

She smiled up at him before another yawn broke through. "I'll drink any kind of coffee as long as there's caffeine in it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her key chain, holding it up. "You mind driving for a little bit this morning? I can't stop yawning and I don't want our morning to start with me driving us into a ditch."

He took the keys from her slowly. "Sure," he nodded, his eyes lowering to the ground. He took a step back as she pushed herself from the door and he then lifted his head, watching her as she walked around to the passenger side of the car.

He didn't understand why this girl was so damn trusting of him and no matter how many times he asked that question, he couldn't even begin to even _guess_ at an answer. They hadn't even been together for twenty-four hours yet but she was so comfortable around him and it was damn strange for him but he felt a certain level of comfort around her, too.

He didn't like people. Never had. Always stuck to himself, didn't have any friends of his own and hanging out with Merle's friends, he was practically a mute. He didn't see himself having a need for people. He would be more than happy finding himself a little place in this world for himself and being by himself. That was his definitely of heaven. Maybe he'd find it now along the way.

Being with Beth, though, he found himself thinking that hanging around her wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was actually kind of nice and that was just a damn weird thing for him to think; something he had never thought about anyone before. And he couldn't figure out what it was about Beth that got him thinking like that.

In the car, he adjusted the seat as she flipped through radio stations – though where they were in Alabama, in the middle of nowhere, there didn't seem to be anything except those gospel preacher shows.

"Which way?" He asked.

Beth was in the middle of yawning again. "Coffee. Find us coffee."

Daryl smirked at that, almost actually smiled. He pulled out of their parking space and drove out of the motel lot, turning randomly left onto the two lane road, heading west. There didn't seem to be any other cars on the road with him and his eyes flicked to the clock on the dashboard. Just a little bit after seven.

"Find a BP gas station," Beth said and she lifted her feet up, resting them on the glove box compartment in front of her. She was wearing shorts and Daryl made sure to keep his eyes straight ahead on the road. "For graduation, my daddy gave me a BP gas card. We can fill up and we can get some coffee. I would say we get some food, too, but I don't want to take advantage of my daddy paying for everything."

Daryl nodded and didn't say anything, deep down liking the fact that she wasn't expecting her old man to just pay for everything for her in this world. It was refreshing. He remembered him and Merle being at a bar one night and a bunch of college girls were in there – girls who looked like Beth, clean and young and pretty – and they had been so damn loud and annoying and he took one look at them and steered clear of them, knowing that they were all damn spoiled princesses.

They came upon a small town, still waking up for the day, and on the corner of one intersection, there was a BP station. Daryl pulled in, stopping next to one of the pumps, and he and Beth both got out. She went into her bag in the back seat and came around where he stood next to the open gas door, the cap already off, and he watched as she slid the BP card into the machine. After a moment, reading the screen, she then punched the button for regular gas and Daryl lifted the nozzle.

"Do you want anything?" She asked. "Coffee?"

"Not really a coffee drinker," he replied as he leaned against the car, hands in his pockets. His eyes were watching the dollar tick up with each gallon being pumped but he looked at her when he heard her gasp. His lips twitched when he saw her standing there, looking at him, looking absolutely horrified.

"How is that possible?" She asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Lived this long without relyin' on coffee."

"I don't understand how," she said and he found himself chuckling a little.

He watched as she turned and went into the station. Her hair was up in a ponytail and he watched the way it gently swayed back and forth with every step. He then found himself unable to stop from lowering his eyes a little lower and looking at her pale legs. How could someone who was her short height have such long legs?

The nozzle clicked off and Daryl returned it to its place before turning and locking the gas cap back on and closing the little door. He remained standing outside though, leaning back against the car. A cool morning breeze was blowing lightly but he could already tell it was going to be another hot southern summer day. He wanted to enjoy the break in the heat for as long as he could. Another car pulled into a pump two away from where he was and he watched a woman get out, talking loudly on her cell phone – yelling more like it. Something about swans and caterers and Daryl found himself frowning. He really hated people.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the automatic sliding doors open and he turned his head to watch Beth step out with, what he assumed, was the largest size coffee a person could get and a pair of sunglasses on her face that hadn't been there when she went in. She was also swinging a plastic bag from her hand. She smiled when she saw him and he found himself smiling a little, too.

"I got you something," she said and she carefully balanced her large cup on the hood of the car. She then held up the white bag and he looked at her, not taking it. She sighed heavily at him and he could just imagine her rolling her eyes behind her sunglasses. She set the bag down on the hood as well. "Since it's a road trip, you need this," she informed him while pulling something from the bag and before Daryl could say anything, she dropped a black trucker's cap on his head. "And these." She pulled out another pair of sunglasses and stepping into him, standing on her toes, she slid the sunglasses onto his face herself. "There. Perfect," she then beamed.

Daryl didn't know what to say so he said nothing. He just stared at her from behind his sunglasses and watched as she smiled, her cheeks looking flushed, and she then stepped back from him, picking up her coffee and taking another sip.

"I gotta have a smoke before we leave," he said.

"Alright," she nodded. "Let's walk around town for a few minutes. Looks like everything's just opening up."

He pulled the car into a parking space in front of the station and then got out, grabbing his pack of cigarettes and lighter, walking to where she was waiting for him on the sidewalk. She was smiling as she sipped at her coffee as if she had never tasted anything better. She smiled a little wider when she saw him coming.

"You pull that cap off well," she smiled at him and he stopped beside her, popping a cigarette in his mouth and cupping his hands around the flame as he lit it. "I've never tried smoking before."

Daryl exhaled the first cloud of smoke. "Don't. Wouldn' look right on you."

"You know when you tell a girl she shouldn't do something, that's all she wants to do," Beth informed him as they began walking down the sidewalk.

"If you smoked, it'd change the way you sing," he commented.

"Hmmmm," Beth said, seeming to think about that as she sipped her coffee. "How do you know I sing?" She then asked him.

He shrugged. "Sang the whole time I was in the car last night."

"Oh." She then laughed a little. "I _am_ a singer. I play guitar, too."

He nodded, taking another drag. He figured from the guitar case in the back of the car that she had brought into the motel room with them the night before for safe keeping. It was a worn case covered in different stickers and the way she handled it, it was like watching her with a newborn baby.

"I graduated with a degree in music composition. I love writing my own songs. I'm going to be on the radio one day," she then said with absolute confidence and Daryl found himself not finding that to be just some pipe dream. Not with Beth. He would actually be surprised if she _wasn't_ on the radio someday; some famous singer.

The town was like any other small town in the deep south. Small and poor and not that much to it. He had grown up in a town just like this.

There was an older black man sitting on a bench outside of the post office with small containers of blackberries beside him with a mangy mutt next to him. The dog began wagging its tail the instant he saw Beth and Daryl approaching and it didn't surprise Daryl when Beth immediately went over to pet him, crouching down and rubbing a hand behind his floppy ear and telling him in a cooing voice that he was the cutest and sweetest dog she had ever seen. Daryl wondered how many fleas that dog had.

"What's his name?" Beth asked the man.

"Scout," the man answered, smiling as he watched Beth gave the dog a few more rubs before she straightened. "Would you and your fella like some blackberries? Picked 'em myself this mornin'. Washed 'em all, too."

"Of course," Beth smiled. "How much?"

"A dollar each."

"Sure beats the store." Beth gave a light laugh as she reached into her pocket and pulled out two dollars. The man handed her two containers and Daryl took them from him to carry before Beth could get them. "Thank you," she said to both Daryl and the man.

"Thank you very much, miss. You have a good day," the man said and tipped the ratty baseball cap on his head.

Beth gave a little wave and they continued walking.

Daryl was almost finished with his cigarette and he took a small puff, wanting to prolong it. "You're nice to everyone," he then heard himself say.

Beth took a sip of her coffee. If the statement confused or surprised her, she didn't act like it. She just gave a small shrug. "Why shouldn't I be? Why not be nice?"

"A lot of people ain't nice," Daryl muttered.

"That's their choice. Just like it's my choice to be nice. The world is filled with so many good people. They far outweigh the bad. People just don't think that because the bad is all we ever hear about." Beth took a sip of coffee and Daryl dropped the cigarette to the ground, finally finishing it, stubbing it out with his toe. "We only have one shot on this earth and I'd like to leave it a little better than when I got here," she added in a softer voice.

Daryl had absolutely no idea what to say. He had never heard anything like that before. Had never met anyone like her before. His life, his own world, was shitty and he never knew anyone except shitty people. He didn't know how to act around someone like Beth Greene; a person as far from shitty as a person could be.

"So." Her usual beaming smile had returned to her face. "Office chair or fiberglass Stonehenge?" She asked. "Which one first?"

He shrugged. "Does it really matter?"

"No, I suppose not. We have the whole day," she said. "I think office chair, first, just because I think there won't be that much to look at it."

He couldn't help but smirk at that. "'s a big chair, Beth. There's _nothin_ ' to look at."

And Beth just laughed as they began walking back towards the gas station.

…

They didn't take any of the highways. "More fun this way," Beth had said as she programmed her GPS to avoid all major roads. Daryl was driving and Beth had her feet up on the dashboard again and they shared one of the containers of blackberries as Beth sang along with a cd of 80s songs she had made. There was only one problem – as far as Daryl could see – about not taking any of the more populated roads. There weren't that many places to stop and Beth had drank a gallon of coffee and seemed to have a bladder the size of an olive.

"There," Beth said, pointing to an upcoming tree along the side of the road and Daryl pulled the car over onto the narrow gravel shoulder. "I've never peed outdoors," she then giggled as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

He shook his head. "Ain't that excitin'," he said.

"Everything is exciting the first time," Beth then informed him matter-of-factly and Daryl felt a flush immediately sweep across the back of his neck from her words.

They both got out of the car and Beth went to the back, opening the hatch up and searching for something in one of her bags. She gave a triumphant smile when she pulled out a roll of toilet paper and Daryl raised an eyebrow at her.

"Where'd that come from?" He asked.

"The motel," she answered as if it was rather obvious. "I was thinking we might need it and it would help to be prepared and look! We need it!"

With that, she turned and went practically skipping off towards the tree and Daryl heard himself chuckling a little. Who the hell was this girl?

He stood beside the car and looked around. They were pretty much in the middle of nowhere right now. No other cars or buildings. He only heard a few birds and the wind and Beth humming a soft song as she went behind the tree. Daryl wouldn't have minded if they just wound up staring here for a while but Beth came out from behind the tree then, a fist raised in the air as if she had just won a marathon and Daryl smiled at that.

"Office chair!" She exclaimed and her voice echoed through the air.

"Yeah, yeah. Office chair," he muttered in agreement but he admitted that it wasn't the worst thing he had ever heard and Beth laughed, skipping back to the car.

…

Daryl had been right. There hadn't really been anything to look at. Just a chair. A very large 33-ft. tall office chair and she took a couple of selfies of herself to send to daddy as Daryl stood nearby, looking bored out of his mind, but she even managed to get him to stand beneath the chair with her and she snapped one more picture of them both on her phone. He stood behind her as she stood in front of him and she stretched her arms out to get them both in the shot. He hadn't smiled but she hadn't been expecting him to and she tried to ignore the heat that spread throughout her body at feeling him so close behind her.

After just about five minutes, they were back in the car and heading south towards Elberta, Alabama. It was just a little bit after noon now and Beth reached into the bag in the back, pulling out two peanut butter sandwiches and a bag of potato chips. This time, Daryl took the sandwich she offered without his usual stubbornness of trying to refuse it. In just a short time together, he had seemed to learn already that refusing her was impossible. She was stubborn and wouldn't give up and the sooner he knew that, the easier this trip would be for the both of them.

The windows were rolled down and she had her arm hanging outside, rolling in the wind. She turned her head on the headrest behind her and watched the passing fields and trees and the occasional house or trailer. She had a mixed cd playing of hit songs from the nineties that she had made and right now, she was singing along to "The Sign" by Ace of Base.

"Under the pale moon/For so many years I've wondered who you are/How can a person like you bring me joy/Under the pale moon/Where I see a lot of stars/Is enough, enough/I saw the-"

"What the hell is this?" Daryl suddenly interrupted, a frown on his face.

Beth leaned forward to turn the volume down. "You've never heard this song?"

His frown deepened. "And up until today, my ears were thankful 'bout that."

"Do not speak ill of Ace of Base, Daryl Dixon," Beth gave him a mock frown. "This song is an absolute classic."

"Sounds like you need to be lookin' that word up again. Don't think you understand what classic means," he grumbled, leaning his left elbow on the open window and driving with his right hand.

"There is other music out there in the world besides Lynyrd Skynyrd," she retorted.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye, still frowning. "Lynyrd Skynyrd's not the only music I listen to," he said. "This ain't the kind of music you write, is it?"

Beth smiled, pleased with herself for guessing his music preference correctly, and she then shook her head. "My stuff is nothing like this. Just me and my guitar and songs about my life. I have a feeling this trip is going to give me a ton to write about."

"Gonna write a song about a 30-ft. chair?" He asked.

She giggled at that, putting her arm back out the window, and relaxed back into her seat. "It's 33-feet and who knows where inspiration comes from? I'm sure I'm going to write a few songs about you though."

She turned her head from the window to look at him and Daryl was quiet, his hand loose and around the wheel but she could see the slight twitch in his jaw as if he was clenching his teeth too tightly together though why he would be doing that, she couldn't guess.

"A song 'bout me would prob'ly sound worse than this," he finally spoke.

She laughed again, softer. "Oh, you could only _hope_ if your song was like "The Sign"." She paused a beat. "Actually, I really do hope it is. This song was huge in its day. I write a hit like it – a hit about Daryl Dixon – and I'll be riding the gravy train for the rest of my life. Doing nothing but lounging around and eating and getting my picture taken all of the time."

He snorts a little. "Sounds like somethin' awful."

"It does," she laughed and agreed whole-heartedly.

…

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	4. The Bullfrog Bar

…

 **Chapter Four.**

They decided to stay in Elberta that night with plans to head into Mississippi the next morning. They found a motel on the edge of town, along the two-lane road, nestled amongst several large southern live oak trees.

"Let me try this one," Beth smiled at him as he pulled the car to a spot in front of the motel's front office.

Daryl smirked a little at that. "Girl, there's only one thing you could offer whatever guy's workin' in there that he'll be interested in."

Beth felt her cheeks flush at that suggestion but she turned in her seat towards him, facing him. "Please? Let me try? If I completely screw it up, you can swoop in and get us the room instead."

She looked at him and though the car was dark, there was enough light spilling in from the front office of the motel and she looked at his face. The more she looked at Daryl Dixon, the more she found him to be handsome. Quite handsome, as a matter of fact. And that was almost surprising to her that she would think that because she may have had only two boyfriends previously in her life but Daryl was nothing like Jimmy or Zach. They were both young and clean-cut and it wasn't as if Daryl was _old_. He was just older than her. Older and gruff and rough around the edges and she barely knew him but he made her tingle in a way she had never felt before.

Daryl was quiet for a moment, looking at her in return, clearly thinking it over and Beth couldn't help but wonder what he saw when he looked at her. She wondered if she was his type; wondered if he even had a type.

"A'right," he nodded his head then. "But don't smile like you usually do," he was quick to add just as her fingers curled around the door handle.

"What do you mean?" She looked back at him, her brow furrowed.

"You don't wanna come off as too friendly to the guy in there. He's gonna think you're suggestin' somethin' that you ain't," Daryl further explained.

"But… I always smile at everyone." She didn't mean to sound dense or naïve but she honestly didn't understand. A man couldn't possibly think she was propositioning him for sex just because she was smiling at him, could he? It sounded ridiculous.

"I know," Daryl nodded his head once. "Just watch it in there."

They both got out of the car then and Beth felt her stomach fluttering nervously with every step she took, getting herself closer to the office. She could see the man behind the front desk. An older man with white hair. Someone's grandpa probably. She looked up to Daryl to see if he was thinking the same thing but his jaw was set and there was a fierce frown on his face and she noticed he was walking a little closer to her than he usually did; like he was her fierce guard dog not to be messed with.

Beth couldn't believe that her smile would have such an impact on anything and it was natural for her to smile brightly at a person so she smiled like she always did to the man now, stepping up to the desk.

"Hi," she greeted.

The grandpa-looking man looked at her and smiled in return. "Evenin', miss. You like a room for the night?"

"How much are the rooms per night?" She asked, remembering Daryl asking that question first.

"Twenty-five for the night. Thirty if you plan on turnin' on the air conditioning."

"It's so darn hot tonight, I'll definitely have to pay thirty," Beth laughed a little at that. "Felt like I was going to melt into the car seat, I was sweating so much."

She felt a slight pinch then, right on her back, light like a bug bite but glancing over her shoulder, she saw Daryl standing there, staring at her with hard eyes and she knew that he had just pinched her. She frowned at him but his face remained blank.

Beth turned back to the man, opening her mouth to ask the next question, her head beginning to hurt because Daryl had now made her more nervous than she ever would have been doing this before his stupid pinching and frowns. But she stopped herself abruptly when her eye caught sight of a pile of neon orange fliers on the counter near the jar of mints being sold for a dime each.

Beth picked it up, reading over what it was, and she couldn't help but gasp with excitement. She spun around to Daryl. "Daryl, look!" She couldn't help but exclaim and she thrust the flier out for him to take.

He did and his eyes scanned over the words. She looked back towards the man.

"How far is that bar?" She asked eagerly.

"Not far at all," he said. "Head back to town. Hard to miss."

"Thank you!" Beth beamed at him and without thinking about it, she grabbed Daryl's arm and pulled him out of the office and back outside.

"Karaoke contest?" Daryl finally spoke.

"And look!" She pointed to the bottom. "First prize is a hundred dollars and second prize is seventy-five! We wouldn't have to worry about rooms for a couple of days. Might be able to eat something else besides peanut butter, too."

Daryl fell quiet again and went back to reading over the flier. He didn't say a word as he handed her the flier and went to the driver's side door and she smiled, almost wanting to clap her hands, as she hurried over to the passenger side.

The man was right. The Bullfrog Bar wasn't hard to find at all. The town was small and the bar seemed to be the liveliest place around that night, music pouring out from inside, cars filling the lot and neon signs of beers lighting the windows.

"Be sure to-"

"I know. Stick close to you," Beth finished for him before he could. Daryl just stared at her. "I will, Daryl. I promise." She looked at him for a second. "Why do you think this world is such a terrible one?"

"Why are you so convinced that the world isn' bad?" He asked back.

She had no answer for him just as it seemed like he didn't have an answer for her.

The bar was dark and she saw a small stage against the back wall where a couple of bright spotlights were shining. There was a jukebox and several pool tables and a bar with bottles lining behind it. And it was crowded. So crowded. People everywhere, shouting and laughing and a cloud of smoke hung suspended permanently in the air from all of the cigarettes being smoked. She felt something against her hand and she almost yanked it away but then fingers tightened around her wrist and she realized it was Daryl. She followed after him as he made his way through the people, heading towards the bar, holding onto her and pulling her along with him.

The bartender – a burly man with a grey mustache and shaved head with a spider tattoo on his neck – spotted them and headed over. He looked at Beth. "How old are you?" He had to shout to be heard over the noise.

"Twenty-two!" Beth shouted back, used to being asked that question. She then held up the orange flier. "Is it too late to sign up for this?"

"Nah! We're havin' a brief intermission now. Wanna get in on it?"

"Yes, please!" Beth smiled eagerly and the bartender reached beneath the bar, pulling out a sheet of paper and a black binder.

"Sign your name and your song choice next to it! Song choices are in this book!"

A stool cleared next to him and Daryl swiftly swung her around to it and Beth smiled as she sat down and opened the binder in front of her.

"Want somethin' to drink?" The bartender then asked Daryl.

"Bud," he answered gruffly and a second later, he had a bottle in his hand and stood close to Beth; somewhat in her personal space but she didn't mind. He was her guard dog and even if he wasn't, she wouldn't mind having him being so close to her.

Even with all of the bodies in there, she could still feel his warmth and she could smell him – the scent of smoke and soap and dirt like the earth already so familiar to her. Someone bumped into her from behind and Beth turned her head, seeing a man in a black leather jacket roaring with laughter at something, not even noticing. She went back to looking over the karaoke song options.

"What about this one?" She asked Daryl, pointing to "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He looked and shrugged and said nothing as he sipped his beer. Beth nodded. "You're right. Not very creative." She glanced to the sign-up sheet. "And I'd be the fourth person singing it tonight."

She turned the page. She almost picked a Joni Mitchell song but she stopped herself. She couldn't imagine this crowd listening to Joni Mitchell. Near the bottom of the fourth page, she saw a song that made her smile and she chose it immediately. When she wrote it down as her official choice, she saw Daryl looking at it and then he raised an eyebrow at her.

She laughed. "What? I love this song."

It looked like he wanted to smile, too.

She handed the binder and the sign-up sheet back to the bartender and then turned on her stool, trying to get a look at the stage. She couldn't wait to get up there and sing. She would have loved to bring her guitar and sing one of her own songs for everyone in there but there was nothing wrong with karaoke and singing was singing. Getting up on stage and singing for people is why she left home in the first place and if she could win a hundred dollars – or even seventy-five – for her and Daryl, that was even better.

A woman with dyed blonde hair, wearing a tight black tee-shirt with a green frog on it, stretched across her chest, and even tighter jeans stepped onto stage and announced that the contest was going to resume and she was met with cheers.

Beth looked back at Daryl standing right behind her as he sipped his beer and looked up at the woman. She wondered if that kind of woman was his taste. Her eyes glanced down to her own practically non-existent chest and she found herself frowning. Well, nothing she could do about that anyway.

They sat through Taylor Swift, ABBA, Creedence Clearwater Rival, Johnny Cash, another Johnny Cash, and Michael Jackson that brought a drunken moon walk along with it, the contestant falling right off the stage and the crowd laughing so loudly, Beth thought she felt her ribs rattle.

"Alright," the woman stepped back onto the stage. "One last minute sign up for the night and our last singer. Beth Greene!"

Beth took a deep breath and hurried off the stool, looking back to Daryl and giving him a smile, before she began hurrying to the stage, trying to get there without being too rude and shoving too many people.

"There she is," the woman smiled as Beth finally got her way through and stepped up onto the small wooden stage. "Here you go, honey," she handed Beth the mike and stepped off stage.

Beth held the familiar weight of it in her hand and smiled out happily to the bar. There was nothing else on the stage with her except the mike stand. The karaoke screen was set up to the side of her in front and a Michelob sign buzzed behind her on the wall. She couldn't see that clearly because of the spotlights shining on her but she could sense the crowd. She knew how many people were out there. But she felt no butterflies or shakes. Just the humming of eager anticipation to sing.

And then the song started up – the familiar new-wave age guitars opening the song –and it was met with some clapping from some. She knew she couldn't see him but Beth knew the song by heart and she didn't need to watch the screen. So instead, she focused her eyes towards the bar to where she knew Daryl was standing.

She opened her mouth and began singing, thinking of all of the times she had been driving in her car, singing this very song.

"I walked along the avenue/I never thought I'd meet a girl like you/Meet a girl like you."

Beth could have sworn she heard the bar get a little bit quieter as she sang but she knew it was probably in her head, so immersed in the song and singing and just standing up there, performing like this for a room of strangers. She could almost feel her blood pumping throughout her body.

"With auburn hair and tawny eyes/The kind of eyes that hypnotize me through/Hypnotize me through/And I ran, I ran so far away/I just ran/I ran all night and day/I couldn't get away."

…

Who the hell was this girl?

Daryl felt like he couldn't stop asking himself that question because he had been with this girl for twenty-four hours now and he still had no idea. He wondered if there was anyone else like her in this world. Probably not. She was like a piece of sun had actually broken off and fallen to the ground and here she was. It was a stupid thought, he knew, and not one he had ever had before but he watched her up on stage, singing and doing little dances, and the entire bar was probably thinking the same thing. A bar of rowdy rednecks just like him and she had them completely captivated as she sang.

By the time she sang the chorus for the last time, they were singing along with her and clapping and she smiled so widely into the microphone, she was practically laughing and then at the end, she did giggle then and give a little curtsy and the cheers were louder for her than they had been for anyone else.

He didn't know people like Beth existed in this world. He had never met any. People who were happy and good and saw the good in everything around them. Beth didn't think the world was the shitty place it actually was because everywhere she went, she brought that brightness with her that chased all of the darkness away from her.

She hopped off from the stage and he watched as she made her way back to him, people stopping her, clapping her on the back, even ruffling her hair, and she was laughing and smiling and her cheeks were flushed red as she finally came to him. She skipped right up to him and gave him the brightest smile of them all.

"What did you think?" She asked him, her eyes twinkling visibly in the dark bar.

"Think you're the one who got us the room for the night this time," he said and she beamed at that.

"Beth Greene!" They both turned their heads to see the bartender holding up two beer bottles. "On the house! For you and your fella!"

Beth beamed at that, not even blinking an eye at someone calling Daryl that, and she thanked him as she took the two bottles. Two more Buds and she handed one to Daryl and held the other and she clinked the necks together.

"I've never tried beer before," she admitted.

"Never?" He didn't know why but he couldn't really believe that. He knew she was a good girl from some farm but didn't even the good girls sneak out and do things they weren't supposed to do? And she had gone to college, too? What the hell had she drank then? Had she even had alcohol before?

"Nope," she shook her head and giggled a little as if she was already drunk. "There's a lot of things I haven't done."

Daryl felt the back of his neck flush at that. She really never seemed to notice when she said things like that. To her, there was nothing wrong with what she said and she didn't seem to know how her so-called innocent words could be taken by others.

He watched as she took her first sip of beer and couldn't help but smile a little at her grimace. She pulled the bottle away with a frown.

"That's disgusting," she informed him.

He shrugged. "Gets better," he said.

She brought the bottle to her lips again and took a small sip as if testing his words out. She grimaced again but she seemed to swallow it a little easier this time.

He took a longer guzzle from his own beer bottle, letting the familiar cold bitter liquid flow down his throat, which was feeling dry all of a sudden. He didn't want to drink too much though. This second bottle would be his last. He ate a peanut butter sandwich a few hours ago and he didn't want to drink too much on an empty stomach. The last thing Beth ever needed to see in this world was a drunk Dixon.

He couldn't help but look around the bar now, as if he was looking for Merle. This was the kind of bar Merle would be in. Hitting on the girls, hustling people at the pool table, dealing some drugs in the bathroom. Daryl had been in too many bars like this with him to count but he had mostly stayed on a stool and drank and kept one eye on Merle, always ready to back him up if he needed it. And Merle had always needed it. His older brother never knew when to quit.

Daryl had gotten his fair share of black eyes and split lips in bars just like this one.

He wondered where Merle was right this second; where in Georgia he was and who he was with and how he felt about Daryl just leaving without saying a word. Merle had a tendency to just split with no warning. Daryl wondered how Merle liked it now that he was the one being split on.

Daryl was eager to get into Mississippi tomorrow. The more states between him and Merle, the better.

"Alright, alright," the woman was standing on the stage again, talking into the microphone. "I don't really think it's any surprise that first place and the one-hundred dollar prize is going to…" she paused for dramatic effect. "Beth Greene!" She then shouted into the mike and was met with roars of approving cheers.

Beth gasped then, as if truly surprised – and maybe she was – and she spun around to look at Daryl, her hand covering her open mouth. Daryl found himself smiling at her and then suddenly, Beth launched herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck, and hugging him tightly.

And before Daryl could stop himself, before he could ask himself what the hell he was doing, reminding himself that he didn't have the right, one of his own arms wrapped around her waist, not hugging her but just holding her. And feeling her small body against his, he couldn't help but think that it felt nice to just be holding her.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading and please review! I hope you liked this one. This is the chapter that kind of gave me the idea for writing this entire story.**

 **I am also working on a one-shot for _Cornerstone_ that I hope to have posted in a couple of days. **


	5. Windsor Ruins

**This chapter is kind of a filler - just Beth and Daryl talking and spending their time together. The next chapter, they are going to be remaining in Mississippi for a little bit longer for a few more road trip adventures. Also, at the moment, I have so many "open" stories going on at the same time, I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed. I need to start slowing down a little. Not stopping - just slowing down before my brain completely collapses. Thank you so, so much to those who always read, review and send me love and encouragement.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter Five**.

"Seventy four dollars and twenty-five cents," Beth declared as she sat cross-legged on the bed with the money in front of her, stacked in piles according to the bills.

Daryl smirked but didn't say anything, stretched out on the other bed across from her. His hands were behind his head, fingers linked, and he was studying the water stain on the ceiling. He didn't know if it was supposed to rain tonight or not but he hoped it didn't because if it did, water would be leaking right on his chest. He listened as Beth hummed happily to herself and counted all of their money again – as if it was possible that the amount had changed in just a few seconds.

"Okay," she said and rolled onto her stomach, her legs crossed at the ankle and kicking lazily up in the air. "We have the gas card for gas and coffee," she said and she placed the BP card to the side. "The rooms so far have been about thirty dollars. So, we can either plan for two more guaranteed nights of motels or we can plan for one and use the rest of the money to go grocery shopping and stock up on food." She turned her head to look at him. "What do you think?"

"I don't think I've ever seen someone so excited for seventy-four dollars before," he said, smirking a little again.

"And twenty-five cents," she reminded him with a laugh. "If we put thirty-five aside for our next room, that will leave us with $39.25 and that should be _plenty_ of money to buy some groceries."

"Thirty-eight," he said.

"Thirty-eight?" She kept her eyes on him.

"Passed a dollar store in town. 'm thinkin' we should go buy a little cooler and fill it with ice here from the motel. That way, we can get some stuff at the store that needs to be kept cool," Daryl said and then shrugged, glancing at her before looking back up at the water stain because the way she was looking at him, it was as if he had just discovered fire or something and it was making him almost squirm.

Beth shot into a sitting position. "Daryl, you're a genius!" She beamed at him.

Daryl didn't say anything to that.

He didn't feel like explaining to her that the only reason he knew how to think about any of this stuff was of all of his time bouncing around on the road with Merle. If she ever wanted to eat in a diner along the way, there were things he could do to get money for the meal, or get the meal for free, and if they got a flat or something went wrong with the car, he knew how to get that done, too. If Merle had taught him anything, it was how to get something out of someone and if being a Dixon had taught him anything else in his miserable life, it was how to survive when he didn't have anything except a duffel bag over his shoulder and some pretty bright-eyed girl as a travel companion.

Beth yawned then and carefully scooping the money up, she placed it on the nightstand table between the two beds and turned herself around, curling into a ball on her side, facing him, and resting her head on the pillow.

"It was a fun day," she commented softly.

"Hmmmm," Daryl said but said nothing else.

"This is exactly why I left home," she then said.

"To stay in shitty motel rooms with strangers?"

"You're not a stranger, Daryl. You're my friend," Beth corrected him and sounded so damn nonchalant about the whole thing, Daryl turned his head and looked at her.

He knew he was frowning and he knew his brow was furrowed but he couldn't help it. Friend? Did she really think he was a friend? Beth Greene didn't even know him. And it just further proved his point that she was way too trusting and thought everyone in this world was a good person. There were some good people, he'd give her that. Just look at her. He had just met her but he already knew she was the best person he had ever met. But there was no way she could think that about him. Beth thinking he was her friend just showed that she knew nothing about him.

Daryl wasn't anyone's friend. Never had been. Maybe he had been Merle's but even then, Daryl doubted it. He was Merle's little brother and not much more. And even as his own blood, Merle had showed time again and again that he had no problem ditching him. He didn't know what it was like having a friend or even being one but he looked at Beth and couldn't imagine just leaving her without telling her. He already knew he wasn't going to go all of the way to California but he wasn't sure when would be a good time for them to split ways.

If Merle was here, Daryl knew he would slap him upside the back of the head and call him a pussy for getting all attached to a girl he had just met the night before. If Merle was here, Merle would take that seventy-four dollars and twenty-five cents for himself when she was sleeping and just leave.

But Merle wasn't here and he sure as hell wasn't Merle.

"I left home to sing but to see the world, too," Beth continued and her voice was getting soft and slower and her eyes were slipping shut. "I love the farm where I grew up but I always knew… there's so much more out here for me… and I'm having the best time… seeing it with you."

She was quiet then and Daryl looked at her, seeing that she had fallen asleep. He found himself watching her for a few minutes; at how small and vulnerable she looked curled into that little ball. Before he could stop, he pulled himself from the bed and taking his own ugly floral comforter from the bed, he covered her with it. he stood there and looked down at her for a moment and remembered the way she had looked up on stage earlier that night, singing and doing a little dance and practically damn-near glowing throughout the entire bar.

He thought of the way she had felt against him when she had thrown her arms around him and hugged him and he had put an arm around her before he could stop himself. She was thin and small and she just felt so damn fragile; that if he squeezed her too tight, she would break apart right there in his arm. She reminded him of a delicate bird. And he thought of how warm he had felt when she had hugged him.

Beth Greene was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. And different, too, from the girls he usually saw with Merle. If they weren't strung out junkies, they were girls were fake chests and fake hair and they always wore too much damn lipstick and they smelled like a combination of too much perfume and smoke that made him gag.

Nothing about Beth Greene reminded him of any of those women.

And that just further showed him how little right he had to be anywhere near her.

He went back to his bed and collapsed on top of the covers and was amazed that sleep came to him so easily.

When his eyes fluttered open again, the room was glowing lightly with an orange that let him know it was dawn and he laid there for a moment, hearing the shower running in the bathroom. He sat up, letting out a short yawn, and he dug the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, waking himself up. He had to take a piss but he didn't know how long she would be in the bathroom so he grabbed his boots, tugged them on, and left the room, closing the door behind him.

The humidity slammed into him like a sledgehammer and he was already sweating by the time he walked past the rooms and walked around to the back of the motel. He was glad Beth had paid the extra five bucks to turn on the air conditioner. He was used to living without it but the summers in the deep south were damn near unbearable without it.

He emptied himself behind a clump of bushes and as he approached their room again, his eyes scanned the parking lot. Just a couple of other cars besides Beth's. He knew a part of him was just excepting Merle to pop out at any second, yelling at him and getting him to come back with him, and Daryl wondered how many states he had to get between himself and Georgia before that stopped.

Back in the room, just as he was stepping in, Beth was stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in some little dress with flowers on it and her black and white Converse sneakers and her hair was still damp but she was pulling it up in a ponytail. Despite having just taken a shower, she still looked half-asleep.

"You wan' me to drive today?" Daryl asked as he grabbed his bag and made sure he had everything with him.

"You drove so much yesterday. I just need coffee and then I'll be good to go," she said. "Were you going to take a shower? I took all of the little soaps and shampoos already. And the box of Kleenex this time, too."

He smirked a little at that. "Nah, I'm good. I'll brush my teeth and we can go get you some coffee."

She sighed at that. "Thank god. Brush your teeth as fast as you can," she then said and moved past him to get her things together and Daryl allowed himself to smile this time as he headed into the bathroom.

…

After buying the biggest coffee at the BP gas station and filling the gas tank, they started heading west towards Mississippi.

"I've never been to Mississippi before," she said from behind the wheel. She sipped her coffee and glanced over at Daryl as he sat slunk down in the passenger seat beside her, chewing the skin around his thumbnail. "Have you?" She asked.

A part of her didn't expect him to answer. He had been so quiet since the gas station and it wasn't as if she minded the quiet. Sometimes. Most of the time though, she felt the need to fill it. She couldn't help it. Her daddy had always called her a chatter bug and him and her mama had gotten more than one note from a teacher at school that said Beth liked to talk in class. She couldn't help it. She knew some people just liked to be quiet but she definitely wasn't one of them. And it was obvious Daryl was.

But he cleared his throat after a moment. "Never been out of Georgia 'fore," he said in a low grunt and sat up a little, glancing at her before out the windshield again.

"Really? Why didn't you say anything when we crossed into Alabama? We should have done something," she said, glancing at him again and then picked up the coffee cup, taking a sip. "We should have taken a picture by the state sign or something."

"'s not a big deal," he grunted.

"Of course it is," Beth insisted, glancing at him again. "We're seeing the world together. We have to go back to Alabama," she then said rather abruptly.

"I don't need no picture by a damn sign, girl," he grumbled.

She took another sip of coffee. "There are many things you need in this life, Daryl Dixon. You just don't know it yet."

He snorted at that. "And what? You gonna show me these things?"

"If you like," she shrugged casually. "I don't know a lot of things either though so I'll show you if you show me."

She saw Daryl shift in his seat from the corner of her eye.

"Girl," he sighed. "Do you even realize most of the things you say?"

She giggled a little and sipped her coffee. "Not usually until I've already said it. It's one of my faults, I know, and I always tell myself I'm going to work on it but I never do. Do you have something like that? You know it's a fault and you know you should probably work on it to make yourself a better person but you're just so darn used to being like that, you can never seem to be bothered to work on it?"

Daryl didn't say anything and was back to chewing on his thumbnail.

She took another sip of coffee. "Do you find me annoying?" She then asked him and he turned his head towards her so quickly, she swore she heard his neck crack.

"Why the hell you askin' that?" He asked with a frown.

She shrugged a little. "I just don't want to ruin our road trip."

Daryl didn't say anything and she glanced at him again to find that he was staring at her. His face was one of intense concentration; studying her in such a way that made her actually want to look away and concentrate on anything other than him. She had never had anyone look at her like that before – like they were studying her and trying to memorize her and it almost made her nervous.

"You're very hard to read, Daryl Dixon," she said softly as her eyes drifted back to the road and she occupied herself by taking another sip of coffee.

Again, Daryl didn't say anything.

…

There was one thing she had always wanted to see in Mississippi. She remembered seeing it in a southern travel magazine and it had captured her attention then and it had never let it go again. She knew when she finally got herself off the farm, it would be one of the spots she would visit. And now she was here. Finally here. And it was so strange for a person to walk amongst the white columns of the Windsor Ruins and feel like crying but Beth wasn't able to help herself.

"You a'right?" Daryl asked, looking at her as he leaned against one of the columns though there technically wasn't any trespassing but no one paid attention to those signs and people came all of the time to roam about the grounds freely.

Beth gave a small sniffle and then looked at him with a smile. "It's beautiful. I knew it would be but actually seeing them…" she smiled at herself and shook her head, looking at him. "I've always wanted to see them and now, just knowing that I'm actually here, seeing them…" she laughed then and spread her arms out at her sides, spinning in a circle. When she stopped, her eyes fell right onto Daryl and he was watching her, his lips twitching in a smile.

Beth opened the pamphlet she had taken from the Mississippi Welcome Center she and Daryl had stopped at earlier that day when she had needed a bathroom break. She leaned beside him against the column and began to read out loud.

"The columns supported the roof of the plantation mansion of Smith Coffee Daniell II, a millionaire who owned thousands of acres and hundreds of slaves. He had barely unpacked in his newly-built home, the biggest in Mississippi, when he died from a mosquito bite (Yellow Fever or Malaria). The date was April 12, 1861, which also happened to be the first day of the Civil War."

"The Windsor Ruins, however, did not become ruins at the hands of evil Yankees. Despite its current fame as a photo-op for the lost grandeur of the antebellum South, the house survived the war unscathed. It stood as the Daniell family home for another quarter-century, until a careless houseguest dropped a lit cigar on February 17, 1890. The house burned to the ground, leaving behind only the columns, and the mosquitoes."

Just as she read that part, she slapped a hand on the side of her neck, feeling one.

"I woulda punched that guest in the face," Daryl commented and she giggled, tilting her head up and looking up at the column that towered over them.

"It's so beautiful here," she said softly. "I kind of don't want to leave."

Daryl shrugged. "Don't have anywhere else we need to be. Can stay as long as you want," he said. He paused for a moment. "'s peaceful here," he then said as if he was admitting some big secret.

Beth smiled a little. "We can stay in Port Gibson for the night. Find a grocery store." She paused. "When I picked you up, you said you weren't heading anywhere in particular. Do you know yet?" She asked and she looked at him, almost feeling nervous for some reason; as if she was dreading his answer but still needed to know.

"Jus' wanted to get away from Georgia," he said as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. She watched as he popped one into his mouth and lit it.

"Can I ask why?"

He shrugged. "Can ask all you want. Don't mean I have to answer you."

"But will you answer me?" She asked and suddenly feeling bold towards him, she reached out and took the cigarette from his mouth. His eyes widened slightly and he watched her as she brought the cigarette to her mouth.

She had no idea what she was doing but she didn't stop. She brought the cigarette to her mouth and pinching it between her thumb and index finger, she took a long drag. Feeling the smoke burn the back of her throat and fill her lungs, she began to cough and tears flooded her eyes.

"That is awful!" She sputtered and hit her chest as she handed him back the cigarette.

Daryl smirked a little as he took it back, taking a drag of his own, and she was still coughing as she watched him blow the smoke out from between his lips.

"You're gonna fuck your singin' voice up and then we won't be gettin' any more rooms," he told her.

The burning in her lungs had stopped and she was able to breathe again without wanting to puke. She even managed a small smile and she felt her cheeks warm a little as he looked at her and gave her his own little smile. Standing there, leaning against a pillar with a cigarette in his mouth, she even felt her heart give a little flip. He really was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

Daryl took another drag of his cigarette. "Left Georgia 'cause of my brother," he then said unexpectedly in a low, quiet voice.

Beth looked at him, wondering if he would say anything else, but he didn't and he just kept smoking his cigarette. And Beth didn't ask him to tell her more. She decided right then and there that she would just be patient. That was all she could do with Daryl. Be patient and eventually – hopefully soon – he would tell her more. And she couldn't wait to hear it all. She wanted to know everything about him. And she would tell him anything about her that he wanted to know. She hoped he wanted to know.

…

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 **Thank you very much for reading and please commenting!**


	6. Middle of Nowhere

…

 **Chapter Six.**

Daryl wasn't sure what it was but there was something about watching Beth drink her coffee that made him feel calm. He didn't know why but he didn't really think about it. He had been with her for about three days now and he felt like in such a short amount of time, he already knew her probably as well as he knew Merle because the thing with Beth was she didn't hide anything. What you saw when you looked at Beth was what you got. And it was something he appreciated though he didn't tell her that. People made him uncomfortable but with Beth, knowing who she was, he found himself able to actually relax around her.

They stopped at a grocery store and stocked up on some food before they headed out of Port Gibson, driving north, stopping after not even an hour because Beth, of course, had to go to the bathroom. There was a thicket of trees and as Beth stepped amongst them with her roll of toilet paper, Daryl sat down on a fallen log nearby, setting the small cooler down on the ground in front of him and lighting a cigarette.

He wasn't entirely sure where they were. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, that was for sure. And it was kind of perfect. They hadn't passed another car for nearly twenty minutes and he didn't hear anything out here except birds, the breeze, and Beth humming as she relieved herself behind some tree behind him. He didn't see that much of a difference between Georgia, Alabama, and now Mississippi but all he did know was that if he stopped right here in this spot and started a life for himself, he knew that it had the chance of being a pretty damn good life. Living in the middle of nowhere like this had been his dream for probably his whole life.

Beth stepped from the trees then and came over, plopping down beside him on the log. She was still humming and a faint smile was across her lips. That morning, they had bought a small cooler from the dollar store and had filled it with ice from the motel and at BP while filling up on gas, she had come out with her usual large hot cup of coffee and in a plastic shopping bag, she had bought a few of those mocha-flavored cold coffee drinks in the glass bottles. She pulled one from the cooler now and popped the top before taking a sip, smiling as she did all of this.

Daryl glanced at her and made sure he exhaled his smoke to the wind in the direction where it wouldn't blow on her. "You drink too much coffee," he said.

She smiled, her eyes almost looking as if she was laughing. "You smoke too much," she teased back and he allowed himself a small smirk before taking a small drag.

"Guess I might," he shrugged. "Been smokin' most of my life."

"When did you start?" She asked.

"'bout twelve or thirteen, I think." He realized he had just told her something about himself but it wasn't like it was one of his deepest, darkest secrets. Just smoking. One of his vices. He had plenty of those he could talk about if she wanted to know. "Jus' somethin' always 'round me growin' up. Didn' see anythin' weird 'bout it."

Beth nodded and sipped her drink. "I have an older sister, Maggie. She would drive me to school in the mornings and she would always stop for coffee beforehand. I took a sip when I was fourteen because I was curious and I was hooked instantly. I've never done drugs. Never smoked pot like some of my friends. Some of my friends even have done mushrooms. You know… shrooms?" She looked at him.

He nodded and exhaled. He was familiar. No need to tell her all of that though.

"Well, I never did any of that. And my daddy was a nasty drunk years ago and when he got sober, there was never any alcohol in the house," Beth continued. "And I never drank anything at parties that my friends had because I was convinced that my daddy could just take one look at me and just _know_ , you know?"

Daryl felt himself smirking a little at that and he watched as she took another sip. Being out there with her, smoking a cigarette in the warm Mississippi sun, sitting next to her as she drank her coffee, it all just felt good. Right. He hadn't felt that too many times in his life; probably never if he went back and really thought about every moment in his life. Not that he would ever want to remember everything.

But this moment with Beth, Daryl knew that this was the first time he actually wanted to remember something in a life that, up until that point, had been a big fucking nothing.

"So… coffee became my thing, you know. Not that I was looking to have a thing or anything like that." Beth shrugged and took a sip. "It just happened. And I am soooo glad it did," she smiled broadly and bumped him playfully with her elbow and he found himself giving her an actual smile. "So, what about you? Is smoking your thing?"

"Guess so," he shrugged, not too sure what else to say. But Beth kept looking at him and he almost shifted on the log and he got the feeling that he could say pretty much anything to her right now and she would just listen and keep on smiling.

"How old are you?" Beth then asked kind of unexpectedly.

Daryl didn't look at her. "Closer to forty than to thirty," he answered. He flicked his finger against the end of the cigarette, knocking the collected ash to the grass. "You really twenty-two?" It was his turn to ask.

"Yes," she nodded her head once. "My daddy says I have my mama's genes from her side of the family. Apparently, they always looked younger than they really were." She took a sip of coffee. "I don't mind most of the time. Just when people take one look at me and decide they don't have to take me seriously because I look so young."

"People been seein' me with you, they're startin' to think I'm your daddy," Daryl said.

Beth snorted at that and rolled her eyes. "You're not _that_ old, Daryl."

He just took another drag of his cigarette. "So, you really ain't never had a drink?"

"Well," she smiled a little; almost shyly. "I've now had beer."

"So, you're sayin' I'm a bad fuckin' influence on you," he said and she laughed softly.

He felt something in his belly when she did. Something he had never felt before and he felt it now and wasn't really sure he actually liked it. It was a tightening or something; like he was feeling nervous or anxious about something but he didn't know what and Daryl hated being caught off guard with anything.

"No," she shook her head and gave him a smile. "I'm having the best time with you."

"Singin' for your rooms, peein' outside and eatin' nothin' but peanut butter sandwiches?" Daryl couldn't help but frown and shook his head. "You'll get sick of it. Nothin' glamorous 'bout it."

"I know that," she said in a quieter voice. "I just think it's an adventure. And I'm glad I'm on this adventure with you. I don't know what it is… I just feel like… there's a connection with you. I don't think I've ever been comfortable around someone I just met like I am with you."

Daryl had no idea what to say to that so he took one last drag and flicked the cigarette to the ground, stubbing it out with the toe of his boot. He could have told her the same thing and it would have been the absolute truth. But he had never said anything like that to a person before – didn't know _how_ to say that to a person – and he wasn't going to make a fool of himself in front of her right now, tripping over his own tongue.

He wasn't going to tell her that he was glad she was the one to pull over and pick him up the night he was walking along the side of the road; wasn't going to tell her that he was grateful that he got to meet her because he didn't know anyone like her and he didn't know if he liked it but she made his stomach clench and he wondered if it was something he wanted to get used to.

"We got a plan now as to what's next?" He asked, looking at her as he rested an elbow on his knee and rubbed the back of his neck, watching her as she took a sip of coffee.

"I've read so much stuff on Vicksburg," she said. "I figure we could head up there and check it out. See if there's any place to sing or something that needs fixing."

Daryl nodded, finding nothing wrong with that plan.

They were quiet for a few minutes, just listening to the sound of nothing around them – no cars or people and just the sounds of a quiet world. He kind of didn't want to leave the log but he knew that Beth had plans for herself and they didn't include just sitting here in the middle of nowhere. He thought of the way she had sung in the Bullfrog Bar and not just him knew it. Everyone there that night had known it. This girl was going to be going places. And he knew that even if he wasn't going with her, he didn't feel ready quite yet for them to part ways.

She began humming softly then and after a moment, she began to sing in the same soft volume.

"I want a Sunday kind of love/A love to last past Saturday night/And I'd like to know/It's more than love at first sight/And I want a Sunday kind of love…"

Her words trailed off, being carried away into the wind, and she laughed softly, shaking her head at herself and Daryl kept his eyes on her.

"'s nice," he grunted his compliment at her in a low voice.

She smiled faintly at him. "Thanks. I'm not sure why that song popped in my head all of a sudden."

"It's that woman. Etta or somethin' like that?" He guessed.

"Etta James," Beth smiled at them, her surprise clear on her face that he had known that. "I wouldn't have pegged you as an Etta James fan."

He shrugged. "Not really a fan. My grandma used to listen to her a lot when no one else was 'round 'cept me. Made sure no one else knew she was lovin' a black woman singin' so much," he then admitted to her but he wasn't sure why.

But he figured she had lived in Georgia, too, and racists weren't anything new.

"She's always been one of my favorites. My friends never really liked getting rides from me when we were in school because they wanted to listen to Top 40 songs and I was always playing Etta James or Ella Fitzgerald or old country singers. Drove them crazy. The most modern one I played was probably Taylor Swift. I do love Taylor Swift," Beth smiled.

"Yeah, she's a'right," Daryl gave a head nod. "Maybe you can be the next Taylor Swift or somethin'."

"Nope," Beth smiled with a shake of her head, popping the "p". "I just want to be Beth Greene. I don't want to have me compared to anyone."

"Maybe she'll open for one of your shows someday," Daryl smirked a little and the smile she gave him in return was so blinding, he suddenly felt glad that it was a smile she had given just to him and no one else was around to see it.

He almost shook his head at himself. He didn't like these thoughts. Didn't know where they were coming from and didn't understand any of it.

He stood up. "'m gonna take a piss and then we can head out."

Beth nodded, standing up, too, taking the last sip of coffee before returning the empty glass bottle to the cooler and carrying it to the car as Daryl turned and headed into the trees, pretending that he couldn't hear her start to sing again.

…

Daryl was driving this time and had only been driving for maybe ten minutes when Beth spotted it. She leaned forward in her seat to read the approaching sign better.

"Daryl, we should stop," she said, looking at him and pointing to the nearing sign on the side of the road.

"SALE! EVERYTHING MUST GO!" It read in thick red letters.

"Why?" He was frowning a little.

"I love garage sales. Let's see if they have anything useful," she said.

"'s a trailer in the middle of Mississippi. I doubt it," he grumbled but he began slowing down and he pulled up in front of ramshackle trailer.

There were a couple of tables set up on the front grass and a boy was sitting on the steps leading to the trailer porch, probably around five or six, playing with some toy cars. He lifted his head when Beth got out of the car, shutting the door behind her, and she smiled at him, giving him a little wave.

"Mama!" The boy called out towards the screen door.

Beth approached the table. Shirts and pants, boxers and socks – all belonging to a man. Some work boots, too. A couple of old worn paperbacks and Beth picked them up to flip through them, smelling the cigarette smoke wafting from them. And speaking of cigarette smoke, there were even packs of cigarettes and a handful of lighters.

She looked over to see Daryl standing at the other table and she went to go see what he was looking at. Whatever it was, he was staring down at it so intently, he didn't even seem to notice that she had come up beside him. There was some big knives – the sort for hunting – and a crossbow.

And it was the crossbow that Daryl was staring at.

Beth lifted her head when she heard the screen door open, screaming on its rusty hinges, and a young woman stepped out – probably no older than her, Beth guessed.

"Best offer on anything you see," the woman said, approaching them, the boy beside her. "Like the sign says, I'm lookin' to get rid of it all. Bunch of junk anyway."

Beth looked back to Daryl but he still wasn't looking away from the crossbow and she looked to the woman, giving her a warm smile. "How much is the crossbow?" She asked.

"Ten, I guess," the woman shrugged. "Don't know much about 'em but I know my husband spent a hell of a lot more on it than that. Maybe he should have thought about that before he started poking it in some waitress and left all his stuff here."

Beth wasn't too sure what to say to that so she looked back to Daryl.

Daryl made a move then, picking up the crossbow, handing it as carefully as if it was a fresh carton of a dozen eggs. Beth watched him as he ran his hands over it and then held it in his hands, testing the weight, bringing it to his shoulder, his finger slipping to the trigger but not pulling. He held it there for a moment and then brought it down, looking along the side.

"'s a Stryker Strykezone 380," he then told both of them. "The bolts included?"

"You give me ten dollars, you can take all of this for as much as I care. Kept his guns for myself but that's it," the woman said.

Beth didn't hesitate. She knew this money was supposed to be going towards a motel room that night but they had other ways of getting a room and she may have known so little about him but she knew that Daryl didn't look at things like the way he was looking at that crossbow right now. And for everything he had done for her in just their short amount of time together, she was more than happy to hand over ten dollars to the woman so he could get this.

A part of her expected Daryl to look at her and frown or refuse to take it but he didn't say anything. He was still holding the crossbow delicately and he picked up the ten bolts that had been lying next to it.

Beth took the packs of cigarettes and the lighters on the way to the car and a worn grey tee-shirt that had NASA printed on it in red letters and a white space shuttle behind it, surrounded by a blue circle. She would have to wash it but it was a pretty awesome tee-shirt and she opened the back hatch of the Subaru, folding it and placing it on top of her bag. She had to wash a few things anyway and she knew Vicksburg would have to have a Laundromat or two.

Daryl came to stand beside her and he had loaded the crossbow with three bolts and he carefully placed the others in the back for the time being before setting the crossbow down, cushioning it, making sure it wasn't going to be knocked around while driving.

"I used to have one of these," he said. "A Horton Scout HD 125."

She had absolutely no idea what that was but she listened to him with a faint smile. "What happened to it?" She asked.

"Dumbass brother lost it in a card game. Never had the money for another one," Daryl said. "Been a while since I've had my hands on one."

"So, you know how to use it? Do you hunt?" She turned and rested against the back hatch ledge and she found Daryl sitting next to her. She smiled faintly as she handed him the packs of cigarettes and he smirked a little.

"Almost feel bad for the guy," he said.

"I wouldn't. He was poking it to some waitress," Beth smiled a little.

He smirked a little at that. "And yeah, I can hunt," he answered her question. "Been huntin' most of my life. Pretty good at it."

"Maybe you can hunt something for us," she suggested and she noticed how close they were sitting together. She could easily rest her head on his shoulder or slip her arm through his but she could just imagine what his reaction to any of that would be. And this moment was so nice between them, she didn't feel like being mortified and never having a moment like this with him again.

But still, she couldn't help but imagine what it would be like. He was so firm and warm and strong and even with a drop of sweat rolling down her back, being so close to Daryl Dixon, she felt like shivering.

"I can do that," he said with a single head nod.

He turned his head then and looked at her and she found her eyes being locked with his. She couldn't look away even if she wanted to. But why, on earth, would she want to look away from him? He made her stomach churn and her heart flip and it was all so much but nowhere near enough at the same time. She thought of Jimmy and Zach and how neither of them had _ever_ made her feel like what Daryl Dixon was making her feel in just the three days she had known him. She wondered if he felt anything like this when he looked at her.

"Thanks for this," he then said in a low voice that made her want to shiver again. Shiver or kiss him or both and she clenched her hands into fists so she wouldn't do something stupid like reach out and touch him.

She managed to give him a small smile. "Anytime," she said to him softly and she swore she stopped breathing completely when Daryl lifted his hand then and with light fingers grazing over her skin, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

…

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	7. Open Mic Night

**I love Emily Kinney's "Jonathan" so much.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter Seven.**

It was the typical bar. Not the rundown redneck bars he usually went to but more on the sporty side of things. Televisions bolted to the walls with different games playing, pool tables, a kitchen that served food that didn't seem too overpriced.

Beth had seen a flier for the Open Mic Night being advertised at the 1311 Bar and Grill in Vicksburg when they had stopped at a gas station when they first entered town to use the bathroom. The flier had been taped to the gas station window and Beth had instantly gotten directions from the clerk working the register that evening. She had been smiling so brightly, it damn near reminded him of the sun, and she pointed Daryl in which turns he should take to get them there.

It wasn't too crowded for a random weekday night and Beth carried her guitar case up to the bar to talk to the bartender and ask where she should sign up.

Daryl sat himself down on a stool at the bar and picked up one of the laminated menus. He knew how well Beth could sing and he thought of the free beers that had gotten when she had performed karaoke. Maybe this time, they could get a free meal out of it. And if they couldn't, maybe the manager or owner or whoever was in charge that night would let him sweep up and wash dishes in exchange for a burger. Beth had spent ten dollars of their money on a crossbow for him and while he was still in shock that he had a crossbow again – and that Beth had bought it for him – a part of him felt a little guilty that they had dipped into what should have been their motel funds just because he saw the crossbow for sale and had gotten sad about it.

"Alright," Beth came up beside him, sounding a bit breathless. Her smile hadn't disappeared since she had read that flier. "I go up in just a few minutes."

"Already?" He asked.

"Not that many performing tonight," she said and sitting down on the stool beside him, she then leaned in close to him to read the menu still in his hands.

He tried not to think about how sweet she smelled or think about how his fingers were still tingling from when he had tucked that strand of hair behind her ear earlier. He still had no idea why he had done that or what had possessed him to do that. Had never felt the urge to touch another person before but Beth had been sitting there, smiling at him and looking like the prettiest thing he had ever seen, and there had been something inside of him that he hadn't been able to stop from reaching for her.

"Here." Beth lifted her leg and reached into her Converse sneaker, which he knew was where she kept their money. "Beer for you, Coke for me, and do you think we can split the burger basket?" She asked.

"You want cheese?" Daryl asked, taking the money from her.

"Definitely," she nodded and glanced to the small stage before back at him. "The bartender, Martinez, told me of the Motel 6 right outside of town. I think we should think about staying there tonight."

"We prob'ly shouldn' eat," Daryl said even though a cheeseburger and French fries sounded damn good to him right now and his stomach grumbled in agreement. "Need to keep all we have for gettin' a room tonight."

Beth shook her head though and gave him a soft smile. "We'll be alright," she said with a soft confidence that had Daryl looking at her and almost believing her. On the road just three days, and she was already talking like this had always been her life.

"Beth."

Both Beth and Daryl lifted their eyes to see the bartender standing across from them – a stocky Hispanic guy with a wedding ring on his finger and a smile on his face.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Definitely," she smiled eagerly. She slid from the stool but didn't walk away quite yet as she looked to Daryl. "Order the food. I'm starving."

And Daryl found himself nodding even though he knew they really should just eat the food they had in the car and save their money. Beth smiled at him and asked him to do something and he found himself agreeing to it. He was pretty sure Merle would call him pussy-whipped even if he and Beth didn't have that sort of relationship with one another at all. And he would make sure they never would. She was too young, too sweet and too good for someone like him touching her. She had smiled when his fingers had brushed against her skin earlier but she had probably just been acting polite; probably was cringing on the inside at his dirty hands on her.

He watched as she turned and weaved her way up to the stage. There was no introduction made. She took her guitar out from the case and stood behind the microphone as if she performed in that bar every night. No one really was paying attention. There were a couple of games of pool, some people drinking at a table and watching a baseball game on one of the televisions. But Daryl looked at nothing but Beth as she strummed her fingers down the strings of the guitar once, tightening a few, making a quick tune job. She then gave her throat a little clearing and then moved her lips close to the microphone as her fingers began to pluck the strings.

" _I am an artist, he's a muse._

 _I shape his face, color his shoes._

 _If he's a play, I'll be the stage,_

 _my pencil hasn't left the page._

 _Since the night that we first kissed,_

 _I refuse to forget,_

 _the way my hair feels in his hands,_

 _the cool blue love, no demands._

 _Jonathan._

 _Jonathan,_

 _an an an an an."_

Daryl didn't hear anything else around him except Beth's soft, clear voice as she sang her song and strummed her guitar. Her eyes were closed as she sang, as if she was pouring everything from inside of her into the song and that twisting was happening inside of his stomach again but he knew that this wasn't from being hungry. It was that twisting that Beth had been giving him more and more. He reminded himself that he barely knew her and there was no reason to have this girl churn everything inside of his body, making him feel as if he was going to be sick.

The bar around them got quiet as slowly, everyone's attention shifting to Beth.

" _I am a sun, he's like a cloud.  
I gotta know what he's about,  
so I defy the laws of daylight,  
turning down the rays,  
I burn bright.  
He gets heavy, he gets dark,  
he leaves a shadow on my heart,  
and now I'll never light the world the same,  
without windy whispers of his name."_

When she sang the last note and plucked the last string, the bar was quiet for a beat after until the applause started – loud cheers and whistles – and Beth stood there on stage, looking out at everyone and absolutely beaming.

Daryl clapped and found himself smiling as Beth gave a little curtsy, giggling happily, before stepping down the stage. Some of the people stopped her on her way back to the bar and she smiled at each one, thanking them and laughing them, and she beamed at him as she got closer and Daryl did his best to keep himself on the stool because the way this girl smiled at him, it sometimes made him feel like he was being knocked flat.

"Well?" She asked him, sliding back onto her previously vacated stool.

He smirked a little. "Well?" He echoed and she giggled a little. "Too bad this isn't another contest. We'd have no problem gettin' a room for the night, that's for sure."

And his words seemed to make her smile grow even more.

"That was amazing, Beth," the bartender appeared in front of them again.

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "Daryl and I are going to order some food." She looked to Daryl. "Do you mind splitting the basket with me?"

No, he didn't mind. Not just because they really should be smart about their money and not go spending what they didn't have enough of but because there was something about sharing food with Beth that made his spine get something of a tingle he had never felt before and he wasn't ready to figure out what the hell it was.

Daryl looked back to Martinez. "The cheeseburger, fries, and two Cokes."

"You got it," Martinez smiled at them both before turning away to put their order in.

"You didn't want a beer?" Beth asked him.

Daryl just shrugged. "Coke's cheaper." He watched as Beth took the menu and looked over the other offerings of the kitchen. "So, who's Jonathan?" He asked.

Her lips twitched a little at the question. "Just a boy from a while ago. From college. He was in one of my music classes and I had a crush on him but I had a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend and we probably made just better friends anyway."

"You ever write a song 'bout your actual boyfriend?" Daryl heard himself asking.

Beth set the menu aside and looked at him with a small smile. "No, actually." She then let out a little laugh. "That's kind of terrible, isn't it?"

"Nah," he shrugged and felt his lips twitching. "He not your boyfriend anymore?"

"Definitely not," she shook her head quickly. "Zach was just… he was the boy I was _supposed_ to date, you know?"

He shook his head. He had no idea what she meant and she smiled faintly at him.

"He played soccer and he was handsome and so many girls were in love with him. And I was the sweet good girl who was the perfect girlfriend for the perfect boy."

Martinez came and set two glasses of Coke down in front of them. Beth peeled the paper away from her straw and dunked it into the glass, taking a sip of the soda. Daryl tried not to look at the way her pink lips closed around the top of that straw and he felt like scowling at himself. What the hell was going on with him?

"What about you?" She asked, looking at him, her hands twisting the paper around her index finger. "Any girlfriends in your life?"

He snorted a little at that. "No," was his only answer with a shake of his head.

"That's surprising," Beth commented and Daryl looked at her and she looked serious. Even in the semi-darkness of the bar, he could see her blush as she looked at him, smiling almost shyly. "I just mean… you're the nicest man I've ever met. I just imagined a lot of girls clamoring to be with you." Her blush grew darker.

Daryl just stared at her. Just in case he didn't know that he and Beth barely knew one another, her comment was just another reminder. Nicest man she's ever met? Girl didn't know shit about him or what he had done in his life. He knew he wasn't as bad as Merle but that still didn't make him a good guy. She had only been with him for three days – or he had been with her – and he didn't know what he had done to her to make her think anything good about him.

Martinez came then and set a basket with a cheeseburger and a pile of fries down in front of him. "On the house," was all he said before moving away again.

Beth burst into a smile and she turned on her stool, nudging his leg with her knee. "See? I told you. It's all working out. We should be able to easily get a room for the night," she said, picking up the ketchup bottle. "We'll be alright, Daryl."

Daryl didn't say anything. Just gave his head a single nod and picked up a French fry. He didn't know what it was but he suddenly wasn't feeling that hungry anymore.

…

Beth sat on the curb outside their motel room, knees hugged to her chest and her face tilted up towards the night sky. Daryl had been taking a shower and she had come out here for the fresh air. There was something about being around Daryl Dixon that made her feel like she could hardly breathe.

She had sang one of her songs that night in the bar with her eyes closed but she had still been able to feel him. Of everyone in that room, watching her and listening, she had been able to envision Daryl perfectly, sitting there on his stool at the bar, listening to her and watching her and as she sang, she could feel her heart flutter just with having the knowledge of him being there.

She couldn't imagine doing any of this without him and when she had driven away from the farm, in her mind, she was setting off on her own adventure but then she had picked up Daryl and though she may not have known him as well as she would have liked, she knew that she could no longer imagine this adventure without him. It was an adventure _because_ of him.

She had read romance novels before. Maggie used to read those cheap paperback kinds with half-dressed couples locked in passionate embraces on the cover and Beth would sneak a couple to her own room to read. She had always had a romantic spirit, her mama used to say. The way she saw the world and the way she made her music and wrote her songs, she absolutely believed in love and soul mates and she didn't know if she and Daryl were such things but she believed that she and Daryl Dixon shared an instant connection between them that couldn't be denied.

The door opened behind her and she turned her head to look over her shoulder, seeing Daryl step out, wearing jeans and a black tee-shirt, and she smiled when she saw him. There was a cigarette resting on his bottom lip and when he sat down beside her, he cupped his hands around it as he lit it.

"I was just thinking about what we should do next," Beth said.

He exhaled a stream of smoke. "And what are we doin' next?"

"I was thinking we hang around here for a couple of days. Do our laundry. Try to scrounge up some more money before heading into Louisiana," she said.

Daryl shrugged at that. "Whatever you wan' to do."

She knew he probably didn't mean to but his response made her frown nonetheless.

"What do _you_ want to do, Daryl?" She asked. "We should do what you want to do next. It's not just my trip. I don't want to be dragging you all over to places you don't want to go. Where _do_ you want to go?" She asked him even though that question scared her because she just imagined them parting ways and she had no idea when that moment would come.

He was quiet for a passing minute, taking a drag from the cigarette and exhaling the stream of smoke. "Louisiana," he then said in a soft voice. "In a couple days, we'll head to Louisiana. The farther we get away from Georgia, the better."

Beth looked at him, slowly bringing her knees down, stretching her legs out in front of him. She knew it wasn't any of her business and she reminded herself of that now but still, she couldn't seem to stop herself.

"Is your brother…" she began to ask and Daryl sharply turned his head towards her, looking at her and almost making her lose her nerve. "What's he like?" She managed to ask, her throat feeling dry.

Daryl studied her for another moment and then taking another drag of his cigarette, he turned his head to exhale the smoke away from her. He shrugged then. "Merle's Merle. No way to explain him other than that," he said.

Beth didn't say anything, hoping silently that he would say more. She bubbled with questions but she was able to keep them to herself this time.

"Been with 'im for most of my life and I finally had enough," Daryl continued. "Didn' wan' to do what Merle did anymore."

"Do you miss him?" Beth asked softly.

Daryl didn't answer and she wondered if he did miss his brother or if he just didn't want to answer such a stupid question.

She let out a soft breath and tilted her head up towards the sky, looking at the stars. "I miss my daddy. I knew I would but I hadn't thought it would be this much. Especially after just a few days. I miss Maggie but Maggie moved away a while ago so it wasn't like I was used to seeing her every day. And my big brother, Shawn, and my mama…they died a few years earlier and when something like that happens, you always miss the person. Always. But eventually, it fades a little until it's just a little ache and not a throb anymore."

And just talking about mama and Shawn out loud, she felt the scar, the one she hid underneath all of her bracelets on her left wrist, begin to throb.

Beth exhaled a deep breath. "So, even if you miss your brother right now and it's a throb, eventually, it will fade down to just a little ache. If you do want it to fade," she added then and dared herself to look at him.

Daryl was already looking at her and she looked at him and all she wanted to do in that moment was kiss him. She felt a twisting in her stomach that made her think of nothing else in that moment except wondering what his lips would feel like against hers. She didn't think of what his reaction would be; of how he would probably push her away and stand up and walk away from her. She couldn't see anything past leaning into him right here and now and kissing him.

She couldn't think of anything she had ever wanted to do more right now than press a kiss to Daryl Dixon's lips.

And the way he was staring at her, silently and so intently, Beth wondered if he was maybe thinking the same thing. He didn't say anything, of course, or make any sort of move forward to close the distance between them. His cigarette was held between his index finger and his thumb and his eyes never left hers and he didn't move a muscle as she began inching her head closer.

But just as her lips were about to touch his, just as she could feel the soft warm exhale of breath from his nose onto her face and her eyes began to flutter shut and she nearly shook with anticipation, Daryl suddenly ripped his head back. Her eyes flew open again to look at him.

"Don't," he said in his low, gruff voice and he stood up, dropping his cigarette.

He stubbed it out with his boot and without a word, he walked away, heading across the parking lot, away from her and their room, and she sat there on the curb, not able to move. Not able to do anything except feel the way her heart was crashing against her ribcage and the way he was walking away from her, not looking back.

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	8. People in Need

…

 **Chapter Eight.**

He came back to the room late enough where Beth was already asleep in bed. He moved as silently as possible in the dark. He didn't change out of his clothes – just kicked off his boots and climbed onto the second bed. He laid there and listened to her soft, steady breaths as she slept. At least one of them was able to sleep. Daryl doubted he would find any sleep himself that night.

He laid there and thought of her sitting outside on the curb, talking and trying to comfort him even though he hadn't said he needed it or wanted it. He felt like an idiot for actually missing Merle but he had these moments where he imagined his brother tracking him down and dragging him to come back with him and Daryl wouldn't fight it. Maybe being Merle's baby brother was all he was supposed to be.

But Beth had sat there and talked about missing a person and how it eventually faded down so it wasn't as great and he sat there, listening and looking at her and he the asinine thought of kissing her crossed his mind. He sat there next to this girl outside a motel in Vicksburg, Mississippi and it was like sitting on that log with her earlier that day or walking with her through some small town in Alabama. He had the same thought during those times as he was having now. Sitting with Beth, it was one of the nicest moments in his entire life.

And he couldn't help but think about what kissing her would be like. She probably tasted sweet. It wasn't as if he had a ton of experience with women and definitely none like Beth but he looked at her and her pale pink lips and for some reason, he started to imagine that she tasted just like cotton candy. Light and sugary and he stared at her and envisioned himself pressing his lips to hers and burying his fingers in her soft hair and kissing her until neither of them had any air left in their lungs.

He knew he couldn't though. He wasn't the kind of guy who should be _thinking_ about kissing Beth let alone actually doing it.

But Beth had started to move in then and he couldn't believe that she had been having the same thoughts as him. What the hell did she see when she looked at him and think to herself that she would like to kiss him? He smoked too much – smoking right then as they sat out on that curb – and he probably tasted like a dirty ashtray. The rest of him was dirty, too – especially sitting next to her. Was she looking to go slumming or something? He'd be the perfect guy for that but he didn't necessarily feel like being used by someone. He had had enough of that to last him a lifetime.

So he got up and walked away and spent the next couple of hours trying not to think about it even though what the hell else was he going to think about?

Beth. Beth. Beth. Her name rolled over and over again in his brain.

A week ago, he didn't even know a girl like her existed in this shitty world and now, she was the only thing he could think about. The only person he pretty much had in his life right now. He reminded himself that he wasn't going to be hitching a ride with her forever. Eventually, he would go his way and she would go her own and they would probably never see one another again but there was something about Beth that he couldn't put his finger on. But whatever it was, he couldn't seem to bring himself to just grab his stuff and head out in his own direction now.

Of course, with the way he had all but growled at her for not to kiss him and had gotten up and walked away, maybe Beth was hoping they would part ways now.

Daryl was amazed that sleep actually came to him and when he opened his eyes, the room was lighter again and the sun was burning orange behind the closed curtains. He saw Beth standing at the foot of her bed, already dressed and her hair a bit damp from the shower she had already taken. Her bag was open in front of her and she was going through her clothes. And then, as if sensing he was awake and looking at her, her eyes cut to him. They looked at one another for a moment and he didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything. He had no idea how she would be towards him this morning – or from now on.

He could see her visibly swallow and then she spoke.

"I got a bag from the woman in the front office and she told me there's a Laundromat right down the street. I'm going to head there now and find some coffee along the way. Do you need to wash any of your clothes?" She asked and her voice sounded steady and normal and Daryl felt like breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," he nodded as he pulled himself from the bed. "Gimme a second?"

She nodded and then, he saw her lips slowly turn upwards in a smile. And Daryl wasn't one for smiling but seeing Beth smile at him and knowing that he hadn't fucked everything up between them after last night, he felt like smiling a little, too. So he did and when he went into the bathroom, he could hear her humming softly.

It wasn't even nine o'clock in the morning yet but the humidity was so thick already, he felt like it was choking him as he and Beth walked down the street, the bag of their laundry slung over his shoulder.

"We'll shove everything into one load. I only have enough quarters for one load," Beth said, the coins fisted in her palm. "You don't have anything red, do you? I don't want it to bleed over everything else we have."

He smirked a little at her. "I look like I wear red?"

She smiled. "Very true. You're definitely an earth tone kind of guy."

He felt his brow furrow and she laughed in that soft, light way of hers. He still had never heard anything better than Beth's laughter and he doubted he ever would.

"You wear a lot of browns, greens, blues. Muted colors," she added.

He was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. "Guess I like the earth."

"I thought you said the earth was a bad place," she reminded him, smiling a little.

He shrugged again. "Like the earth just fine. 's the people that fuck it all up."

"Well, I would argue with you but I'm not really finding an argument about that," she said and gave him a smile that made his stomach clench in that way that was all too familiar to him now when around Beth.

A part of him had been bracing for her to mention the night before but she didn't bring it up and it was strange because a part of him was grateful for that but another part of him was confused because he had been expecting her to. Beth was a girl who liked to talk – especially talk about what she was thinking. Maybe she didn't think anything about last night. She had wanted to kiss him but he had pulled away and maybe, in her mind, that was that. And in his mind, he tried to tell himself that, too.

The way he had pulled away from her, he didn't expect her to try and kiss him again. And he was just fine with that. That's what he was telling himself and he meant it. Course he did. He was the one who pulled away from her, not wanting her to kiss him. Why would he want her to try to again?

There was no one in the Laundromat that morning and Daryl swung the bag of laundry up onto one of the washing machines.

"Shoot," he heard Beth say softly under her breath and he turned his head to look at her. She was standing in front of a small vending machine and he came up beside her. She looked up at him before back to the machine – several boxes of soaps and small bottles of detergent.

"It's more than I was expecting. We don't have enough," she said with a sigh. "We might as well go find a creek and take one of the bars of soap from the motel."

Daryl didn't say anything. His eyes moved over the machine, taking note of its construction. He then stepped to it, running his hands over the front, the sides and then the back.

"Daryl…" she began to say his name but it trailed off then as he crouched down behind it. "Don't even think about it, Daryl Dixon," she then and then her eyes began darting all around, making sure no one was around to see.

It wasn't rocket science. It wasn't like breaking into an ATM. This was a cheap flimsy machine and working his motel key in the screws, he was able to pop the back open easily enough.

"Daryl," Beth said his name again, this time in a hiss, and he lifted his eyes to her. "We can't do this," she told him with a quick shake of her head. "It's stealing."

"'s not like we're takin' it all. Just what we need. If you wan', once we get a bit more money, we'll come and put the money in for what we took."

She stared at him and bit her bottom lip between her teeth. She didn't protest further though and Daryl took a box of dryer sheets and a box of the cheapest soap.

"Take the Tide," Beth said softly and he looked at her. "The bottle will last us longer and probably won't make us itch something fierce."

Daryl smirked a little at that and putting back the box of soap, he took the small bottle of Tide, handing the things over to her before slamming the back of the machine shut again. Beth let out a soft sigh but said nothing more as she turned and went back to the washing machine where their bag of clothes was. He stood next to her as she began pulling clothes out. It wasn't as if they had accumulated that many dirty ones yet – almost the entire pile consisted of socks, underwear, bras, that NASA tee-shirt she had bought from the woman's selling her husband's things sale, a couple of his tee-shirts and a few pairs of his boxers. Beth didn't even blink an eye as she took those and dumped them into the machine. Daryl felt the back of his neck flush but he shoved his hands into his pockets and acted as if it didn't bother him.

"We need to remember how much this was," she said as she poured a small amount of Tide into the machine and then slamming the lid shut, she inserted the four quarters before starting the cycle.

"We ain't thieves, Beth," he told her.

"What are we then?" She asked and he wondered what that was like – to have such a conscious that it ate the hell away at you even when you stole a bottle of laundry detergent the size of a Coke can.

"We're people who needed it and we'll pay for it when we get the chance," he said.

"Will we?" She seemed to be needing some affirmation right then.

"Course we will." And he offered it to her easily. "We'll write down the name of this place and how much we owe and we'll come back when we have some money in our pocket," he continued and it sounded like he was making her a solemn promise to her and maybe he was. Maybe he hated seeing that down look in her eyes because it looked so damn out of place when her eyes usually sparkled bright like the sun.

And his words seemed to be exactly what she needed to hear because she let out a soft breath and she smiled – tiny but a smile nonetheless.

She nodded her head once. "Alright."

"Alright," he heard himself echo and she smiled a little bigger now.

…

They only had two quarters which would give them about twenty-five minutes of drying time, which she thought would be enough and if it wasn't, it was so hot outside, they could just drape the clothes off of the car for now to dry the rest of the way. And just as she got all of their clothes into the dryer and closed the door and fed the machine their two remaining quarters, Daryl looked to the clock on the wall.

"I'll be back," he said unexpectedly.

"Where are you going?" Beth asked.

"We passed that diner on the way here. 'm gonna go and check it out. See if they need any quick help," he said.

"Do you want me to come, too?" She asked, already taking a step towards him, but Daryl shook his head, stopping her.

"You stay with our clothes. I won't be gone that long. And if I am, you know what diner I'm talkin' 'bout?" He was standing at the door now, looking back to her, his hand on the handle, ready to step out. She still stood across the room at the dryers and she looked at him, giving a nod. "Bring the clothes and meet me there."

"Alright," she said and the bell rang above the door as he left.

She wished she could go, too, but he was right. Someone had to watch over their clothes for the time being. She just wanted to help him try and make some money since they no longer even had a few quarters to their name. She had thought they would stay for another day but if they couldn't get any money together, they would have no way to pay for the room another night and they would have to move on. Louisiana was next. Maybe they would be luckier in Louisiana. Not that they hadn't been lucky in Vicksburg. She actually liked it here. They hadn't seen much of it but she had a feeling about it and what she had seen of it, she liked it.

She let out a yawn and brought her hand up to her mouth to cover it as she sat down in one of the hard plastic chairs. She really needed to get some coffee. She was surprised she had been able to function this long already without it.

She tried to think of something she could think of that didn't involve her travel companion. She had been trying so hard to act normal around him because what happened last night – or what _didn't_ happen – couldn't be something that ruined their trip. It was going so well. Not the easiest thing in the world but she was having fun and she was so glad she was going through all of this with Daryl. She wasn't going to let anything make this uncomfortable between them. So Daryl didn't want to kiss her. Alright. Not every man in the world had any sort of obligation to kiss her. He wasn't attracted to her and that was fine. Of course it was fine. She had thought that maybe he had liked her but she had obviously been wrong and she was fine with it. Or… she was trying to teach herself how to be fine with it. Daryl was her friend and she wanted him to keep being her friend and she didn't want that to end.

And the only way she could think of doing that was to pretend that nothing had happened at all. And so far, it seemed to be working.

She thought of the money she had hidden in her bag back in the room. It would be so easy to go and get it and pay for the room another night and pay for the laundry detergent and dryer sheets; to go to the diner and tell Daryl that she had money and they didn't have to worry about it anymore.

And she was so close to doing just that.

But something kept her on that seat. Maybe she was being stupid or selfish and if Daryl ever found out she actually had money, he would probably be furious with her. But she needed to save that money. If she was actually going to go to California, who knew how things would be out there for her? She couldn't be destitute on the streets of LA. She needed to save that money so it could help her until she got on her feet out there. At least here, she had Daryl and together, they were getting through. As she told him last night in the bar, things would work out. They would be alright.

Still, her stomach was tightened into a knot as she looked at the bottle of Tide. She had never stolen a thing before in her life and this wasn't resting easily on her. Maggie used to steal candy or lip gloss from the drugstore in town – gave her a rush, she said, and it wasn't really hurting anyone. She didn't do it all of the time but she had definitely done it more than once and Beth would look at her as if she was crazy. She had never had that desire to ever take something that didn't belong to her.

The bottle of Tide was becoming her own tell-tale heart, beating from the chair beside her and making her clench her eyes shut. She needed to go back to the room and get some money to feed the machine. She didn't care what Daryl said. They were thieves and she couldn't stomach that.

The dryer went off a little while later and as she was taking their clothes out, smiling a little because they were almost completely dry, the bell over the door tinkled again and she looked over her shoulder to see that Daryl had returned.

She smiled at him. "You weren't gone long at all," she said.

He didn't say anything and she watched as he went to the vending machine. Without a word, he fed it a couple of dollars, and then he came her way. He stopped in front of her and reaching into the front pocket of his jeans, he held up a twenty, a ten, two fives and a couple of singles.

"What did you do?" Beth bubbled with laughter.

Daryl actually smiled. "Didn' even make it to the diner. Helped a lady change her flat. Told her it was too much but she didn' seem to care. She invited us over to her house for some lunch. Said she might have some more work for us and if we help her out, she'll give us a place to sleep for the night."

Beth gasped. "Really?"

His smile grew a little. "Really. Guess you were right. 's all workin' out."

And Beth had been so close to confess to him about the money that she had but he was smiling at her and there was no tension between them and Beth swallowed the words down, not wanting to ruin that.

…

* * *

 **I can't wait to write the next chapter.**

 **Thank you very much for reading and please review!**


	9. Yard Work

…

 **Chapter Nine.**

They checked out of the motel and Daryl drove them to the BP gas station so Beth could get her cup of coffee in hopes that she would stop yawning every two seconds and as she stood at the machine, filling her cup, she looked over her shoulder to see Daryl standing nearby, his hands in his pockets, waiting for her. She tried to distract herself with finding the right lid that would fit on the cup and not think about how she felt so warm around him. She could feel a tingling on the back of her neck just from the knowledge of him standing behind her and maybe looking at her. She didn't know if he was actually looking at her. She was probably just imagining his eyes settled on her backside, making her want to shiver.

Once she snapped the lid on, she turned to him and gave him a smile and though he didn't smile in return, his lips twitched a little and she had learned that with Daryl, that was his way of smiling and it only made her smile a bit bigger.

Beth went to the counter and handed the cashier her gas card. "And two packs of Marlboro's, please," she said politely with the smile still on her face.

"Beth-" Daryl began to say, coming up beside her. "Don't. We got money."

"We need to save that money," she reminded him, turning her head to look at him. He stood there with a frown on his face and she shook her head slightly. "It's alright, Daryl," she tried to assure him but it was his turn to shake his head.

"What's your pops gonna say when he gets the bill for the card?" He asked. "You think he's gonna think you started smokin'?"

"I've already thought of that. You're a nice man who I met and helped me and I was paying you back. And it's the truth. My daddy will be grateful to you," Beth said.

Daryl just shook his head though and opened his mouth to argue but the cashier handed her the boxes of cigarettes and Beth pushed them into Daryl's hands without another word. She then handed the cashier the gas card. Daryl didn't say anything else as they left the gas station and walked back to the car. She noticed he put the boxes of cigarettes into his duffel bag instead of stubbornly trying to give them back to her and she smiled to herself as she sipped her coffee and got into the passenger seat, letting Daryl get them to this woman's house.

"Did you tell this woman about me?" Beth asked as Daryl got in beside her.

"Course I did. She's expectin' both of us," he said as he turned the key into the ignition and reversed from the parking space. Beth sipped her coffee, finally to feel a bit more like herself – and awake even after being up for hours now – and when they stopped at a stoplight, Daryl dug for something in his pocket.

The woman had written her address down and Daryl looked at the scrap of paper now as he drove the car according to her directions. He was driving them through a quiet neighborhood outside of Vicksburg, made up of well-kept bungalows, lush lawns and shady trees, and he pulled up in front of a white bungalow with a weeping willow tree in the front yard, a bicycle lying on its side in the driveway and the front yard was surrounded with a picket fence in need of a painting.

"What's her name?" Beth asked as they got out from the car.

"Carol," he said and Beth nodded, following him to the house, walking up the driveway and the front path and then climbing the steps of the front porch.

She reached out and rang the doorbell and they stood side by side, waiting.

A moment later, a girl about ten or eleven with brown hair cut above her shoulders and freckles across her face, answered, pulling it open and looking at them curiously. Beth smiled warmly at her.

"Hello. We're looking for Carol," she said kindly.

The girl looked at them for another moment before turning her head back inside of the house. "Mom!" She called out and a moment later, they heard footsteps and the door was pulled open wider.

A small woman with short gray hair stood there and smiled the instant she saw them. "Thank you so much for coming," she said.

"Thank you so much for the offer," Beth said in return, smiling the whole time. "I'm Beth," she then stuck her hand out. "And you've already met Daryl."

"It's so nice to meet you, Beth," Carol shook her hand. "I'm Carol and this is my daughter, Sophia. Did you have any problem finding the house?"

"Nah," Daryl finally spoke in his low grunt, shaking his head.

"Good. I just am about to finish with lunch. How about we eat and then I can show you what I need help with? And I can show you the room if you're interested in staying the night," Carol said.

"Thank you," Beth said and they stepped into the house.

It wasn't necessarily a messy house. More cluttered than anything. A basket of laundry waiting to be folded on the chair in the living room. Mail piled high on the table in the hallway. A pile of shoes spilling from the hall closet. Magazines and books stacked on the coffee table. It was a house that was lived in and stepping into it and looking around, Beth suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of homesickness. She had missed her daddy on the trip so far but this was the first time she actually missed being home. And it was surprising to her because while she loved that farmhouse and it was the only home she had ever known, she had been so excited to leave it behind and start something new for herself.

But being inside of Carol and Sophia's house, it made her so grateful that Daryl had helped Carol change her flat tire and that she and Daryl would be getting a break from staying in motel rooms for one night.

They walked down the hallway and Beth glanced over her shoulder to see Daryl behind her, walking almost a little too close as if he was ready for something to happen and wanted to be there to protect her just in case.

The hallway spilled into a bright, small kitchen painted a mint green with white cabinets and a large island in the middle of the room. Carol turned to them and smiled, gesturing to the table for them to sit.

"Lunch isn't anything fancy," Carol told them as Beth and Daryl eased themselves into two of the wooden chairs.

Beth could feel the stiffness of Daryl from beside her and she was tempted to rest a reassuring hand on his thigh but she doubted he would have a good reaction to that.

"Just ham sandwiches and vegetable soup," Carol said.

"That sounds wonderful," Beth genuinely smiled. "I can't thank you enough for offering to do all of this without even really knowing us."

"Well, I figure that a man who stops to help a woman he doesn't even know can't be that bad of a man," Carol said, coming to the table and setting a plate of sandwiches down in the center. "And any woman who travels with a man like that is a good woman, too," she smiled then at Beth and Beth beamed up at her.

Sophia came to sit across from them and Carol handed out plates and bowls with spoons. She then came to ladle soup into each of their bowls and Beth complimented her on how good it was as soon as she took a sip.

"Daryl and I have been living on peanut butter sandwiches," Beth said with a slight laugh and she looked to Daryl, watching as he hunched himself over the soup, spooning it quickly into his mouth.

Sophia took one of the sandwiches and held it with both hands. "Where are you two from?" She asked.

"Georgia," Beth answered for both of them. "A very small town in Georgia and we left a few days ago. Stopped in Alabama for a few things and we've been in Mississippi for a couple of days now. We're heading into Louisiana next."

"What'll you do there?" Sophia asked.

Beth smiled and shrugged. "Anything we want. We're just driving right now and seeing everything we can."

Sophia gave a dreamy sigh then. "That sounds amazing," she said.

Beth smiled, finding absolutely no argument with that. Despite last night, everything else really had been amazing but she wasn't going to dwell on what happened last night. Or what hadn't happened last night. There was no reason to think about it. Nothing had happened and it had been made clear that nothing would. She still felt like an idiot for attempting to kiss Daryl and for misreading all of the signs she had thought there had been between them. They were friends and she was so thankful to have him as a friend because she didn't care how short of a time they had known one another. They were friends and she wouldn't have made it this far without him.

"How's your summer vacation so far, Sophia?" Beth asked, changing the subject.

Sophia's smile faded and she gave a dramatic sigh. "Awful."

Carol smiled as she sat down beside her daughter, easily holding four glasses of water she placed down in front of everyone. "Boy trouble," Carol explained.

Beth nodded with understanding. "Boy trouble is the worst," she tried to console her. "But you want to know the secret about boys?" She asked and leaned into the table as if partaking in revealing a conspiracy and Sophia leaned in, too. "Boys are stupid," she said in a whisper and Sophia giggled a little, smiling again.

Beth smiled, too, before taking a ham sandwich for herself. From the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw Daryl smirking to himself.

…

Beth, Carol and Sophia were all talking as if they had known one another for years but Daryl didn't say anything as he sat beside Beth, eating his bowl of soup and two sandwiches. The table was small and occasionally, Beth's arm or leg would brush against his but he didn't move in his chair to put some space between them. He admitted that he didn't really mind and the brush of her skin was soft and nice.

It was so hot that day, she was wearing short blue jean shorts and a loose tank top and he couldn't stop looking at her from the corner of his eye and all the exposed pale skin. How the hell could a girl be in the sun but still stay so damn pale? And how did she get her skin to stay so soft? He couldn't help but look down to his own skin. Hard and tanned with a few dirt smudges and oil stains on his hands leftover from helping Carol with the tire earlier. He couldn't help but frown when he looked at his own skin and then to Beth's before back to his own again.

After lunch, Beth helped Carol carry all of the dishes to the sink and Daryl stood up again, not too sure what he was going to be doing but ready to get to work. He wasn't like Merle or like their old man. He had never liked just sitting around and doing nothing. Daryl had always been doing something. Hunting or fixing the shitty truck he and Merle drove around or tinkering around with Merle's bike. While Merle slept until two or three in the afternoon, Daryl got up with the sun and tried to fill his days in a way where both his brain and hands were kept busy.

"I work full-time and Sophia isn't able to do a lot of the things around the house that needs to be done and my husband passed away earlier this year," Carol explained.

"I'm so sorry," Beth offered.

Daryl nearly snorted to himself. Looking at Carol, he doubted the woman was all broken up from her husband's death. He didn't know Carol but he had always known plenty of women just like her. Including his own mom.

Carol just gave her a smile. "It's alright. So I was hoping you two wouldn't mind yard work," she said.

"Not at all," Beth smiled and shook her head and answered for both of them.

They went outside and spent the next few hours working in the yard under the unrelenting Mississippi sun. Daryl mowed the grass and trimmed the bushes and did other yard work as Beth, Carol and Sophia painted the picket fence with a fresh coat of white. Sometimes, he could hear Beth's laughter floating over to him and he would look over to see her bright smile clear across the yard. Even sweating with a swipe of white paint on the side of her neck, she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

It wasn't the first time he had thought that about Beth in the days since meeting her but he still didn't know if he felt comfortable with having thoughts like that because it just made him think of the night before and how he had walked away and how he wanted to kick himself the more he thought about it. It wasn't as if girls like Beth were just lining up every day to kiss him. Beth had been looking at him and leaning into him and making it damn apparent that she wanted to kiss him – and have him kiss her, too – but he had pulled away and he doubted it would ever happen between them. He frowned to himself. He didn't quite know though why he would want it to happen between them. He didn't know her and she didn't know him but she said they were friends and for once, Daryl found himself wanting this friendship.

He didn't want anything to ruin the one friendship he had ever had.

"Daryl!"

He wasn't sure what time it was when Carol called him over but he saw her standing on the sidewalk in front of the house with Sophia and Beth and he walked towards them, wiping his sweaty brow with a swipe of his arm. He came to stand next to Beth and he looked at her as she looked at him with a smile and he had the strongest urge to try and wipe the paint she had on her skin.

Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest.

"The house has never looked so beautiful," Carol was beaming. "I can't thank you two enough," she looked to Daryl and Beth.

"You letting us stay here for the night is more than enough thanks," Beth, again, spoke for both of them.

"You can stay here as long as you want," Carol swiftly replied. "And I mean that. Now, let's go inside and get ourselves cleaned up."

The bedroom they would be staying in was the room over the garage – obviously used for storage judging by the boxes pushed against the walls but it had a bed with clean sheets and he could see Beth smiling when she looked at it. But he could do nothing but frown at the sight of the bed in the room. The _one_ bed. Why the hell was there only one bed?

"I hope you two don't mind… it's the only extra bed I have in the house and I would offer the couch in the living room but a couple of the springs are broken and you would probably not a get a wink of sleep on it," Carol explained. "I'm in the process of buying a new one but in the meantime…"

She trailed off as Beth and Daryl kept staring at the bed.

Daryl would endure a few springs in the spine if he had to. There was no way he could sleep in the same bed as Beth. And if he didn't sleep on the couch, then he would just sleep on the floor. It wouldn't be the first floor he had ever slept on. It was one thing to have her touch his boxers and to share a load of laundry with her. But to sleep in the same bed with her, feel her right next to him, feel her warmth… no. There was just no way in hell he could sleep next to her and get any actual sleep.

He looked to Beth and wondered what she was thinking. Was she as bothered at the idea of sharing a bed with him as he was? Or maybe her heart was racing like his was. Was she bothered or excited? And what the hell was he? He knew he couldn't sleep next to Beth but… was it something he wanted?

He was giving himself a damn headache.

"The bathroom is down the hall," Carol continued. "And I'll leave towels out for you. Feel free to use the shower and wash up. Sophia is going to come and help me with dinner. For as much work as we've all done today, I think we need a feast to celebrate," she then smiled at them both.

"Thank you so much for everything, Carol," Beth turned to her and gave a smile.

"Stop thanking me. Please. I'm so glad I ran into you two today. The house has never looked better. Do you two like lasagna?" Carol asked, smiling at Beth and then smiling at Daryl.

Daryl heard Beth answer that she did and then he felt them looking at him, waiting for his answer. He didn't really give one but he let out a grunt, going back to looking at the bed. His eyes then lowered to the floor. Hardwood and a little dusty but he had slept on a hell of a lot worse before. It was just for one night. No big deal. It would be a lot better than sleeping next to Beth and feeling the heat from her body.

Carol excused herself and the room was quiet for a passing moment. Daryl then turned and looked at Beth.

"'m gonna go outside for a smoke," he said.

Beth nodded and looked at him and he already knew her well enough to know that she wanted to say something else. And he found himself standing there and waiting.

"We can share it. The bed. We can share the bed, Daryl," Beth said.

"Can we?" He asked, his eyes watching her face closely.

"We can," she gave a nod. "One of us sleeps above the covers and one underneath the covers. Or… we can both sleep under the covers. We're adults. Just because we're sleeping in the same bed doesn't mean we're just automatically going to have sex."

Daryl felt the tips of his ears burn red at her words.

He cleared his throat, trying to think of a time he had felt more awkward. "Yeah," he was finally able to grunt out. "We can share the bed."

And as soon as the words left his mouth, he wondered why the hell he had just said that. There was no way he could share a bed with Beth. He didn't care what she said because she had actually said 'sex' so of course, that was all he was thinking about now.

And sex with Beth didn't sound like the worst thing in the world.

…

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**

 **The next chapter will pick up where this one left off and there will also be more Carol/Sophia in the next chapter as well. This story will be updated every Friday and _The White House_ will be updated every Tuesday. I'm still not entirely sure what to do about _The Orchard_. I have/had so many plans for that one but it's a long story as to why I'm unsure. **


	10. Sleeping Arrangements

…

 **Chapter Ten.**

Beth took a shower, trying not to linger and hog the bathroom though the hot water cascading down on her body felt so good after working for hours outside, she couldn't help but groan when it first made impact with her skin. She had plenty of shampoo and conditioner from the different motels and Carol had given her a wash cloth to use and Beth unwrapped one of the small bars of soap, lathering the towel and rubbing it all over her body.

When she stepped from the shower, she felt so refreshed, she smiled at herself in the mirror's reflection after wiping the steam and condensation away with her hand. The bathmat was soft beneath her feet and she couldn't help but dig her toes into it. It was something so small and she had only been gone for a week and she would never expect it but she really missed mats in the bathroom. None of the motels had such a thing – sanitary reasons, probably – and Beth would have never thought she would miss such a thing. But she stood there, combing the tangles from her hair and rubbing it with the towel and her feet reveled standing on something so soft.

Her mind began to wander to Daryl as it tended to do so often. She had been caught off guard with the extra room only have one bed but she was quick to make the best of it. This road trip was all about the unexpected and adjusting to it and it was like she had told Daryl. They were both adults. Two adults were more than capable of sharing a bed and having nothing happen. Why would anything happen? There didn't seem to be a part of Daryl interested in such a thing – especially with her – so why should there be a problem about sleeping for a few hours beside one another? They had shared motel rooms together and nothing had happened in all of that time and tonight wouldn't be any different. They would just be a little closer than usual.

Beth looked at herself in the mirror's reflection once more, studying herself a bit more closely. She knew she wasn't ugly – not that she really thought anyone was absolutely ugly. She knew she was pretty. It was something she had been hearing for her entire life. Not just from her family but from everyone. Neighbors and acquaintances and other boys and girls at school. And Beth had enough confidence in herself to believe it.

She couldn't help though but look at herself now and wonder what Daryl saw. She imagined the girls he was usually attracted to and she thought of the girls in the Bullfrog Bar. Tight clothes and predominant breasts and hips and before she could stop it, she began to feel disappointment. She would never have any of those things and it was obvious that Daryl wouldn't even look at her because of that.

Beth had never been the sort to change herself for a guy. She was who she was and she thought she was pretty great, to be honest. And she hated that, for one of the first times in her life, Daryl Dixon was making her doubt herself so much.

Tightening the towel around her body, Beth left the bathroom and hurried back to the guest bedroom, closing the door behind her. Daryl wasn't there but her eyes instantly fell upon his bag and crossbow so she knew that he hadn't just left – which she realized was actually a fear of hers. She didn't know where he was going and he didn't know either and she was worried that one day, he would just be gone, heading someplace else on his own; without her.

She hoped he would come all of the way to California with her because although she had just met this man, she already didn't want to apart from him.

Beth hummed an Etta James song to herself as she got dressed in a fresh bra and underwear – she was so glad she and Daryl had done laundry. It was so lovely to be so fresh and clean from a shower and put on fresh and clean underwear. She then pulled on a pair of jean cutoff shorts and the NASA tee-shirt. It was large on her – hanging down and making her look like she wasn't even wearing shorts – but the cotton was so soft against her skin, she instantly fell in love with it.

There was a light knock on the door and Beth, in the middle of braiding her hair, went to go answer it, turning the lock and opening it.

No matter how much time she spent with Daryl, her stomach always flipped around him. Even knowing that she didn't stand a chance in this world with him, her stomach insisted on flipping as if she did.

"Hi," she smiled and stepped aside so he could enter. "The shower is all yours," she said, going to the bed to collect her wet towel.

"Thanks," he grunted and went to his bag, picking it up from the floor and swinging it up onto the bed. "Been talkin' with Carol downstairs," he then said.

Beth looked at him, waiting for him to continue and she felt her heart speeding up. In her mind, she suddenly had an image of him telling her that he was going to be staying here and their little journey together was ending – just like that.

She wondered exactly when it was that she had gotten so attached to this man.

"She leaves for work around six in the mornin' so I figure that was a good time for us to leave tomorrow, too. Get on the road and get into Louisiana. Anythin' else you wanted to see in Mississippi?"

Beth felt herself releasing a soft breath, not even realizing she had been holding it in.

She shook her head rapidly. "No, I actually am excited to get to Louisiana."

"Carol said she was gonna pack some provisions for us," Daryl said, not looking at her as he grabbed some clothes and made his way to the door. "Told her she didn't have to do that but she's not too keen on listenin'."

"That's nice of her," was the only thing Beth could think to say.

She looked at him but he seemed to be doing everything he could to avoid looking at her. She couldn't help but begin to feel frustrated. It wasn't as if they actually had kissed. He had put a stop on that and made it clear that it was never going to happen and Beth had agreed to herself to just pretend it had never happened in the first place. She thought Daryl was pretending, too, and things had been easy between them so far that day. What had changed?

The bed. That's what this was. Sharing a bed with her was clearly the worst thing to ever happen to him and he was acting as if he was being put to his death.

She let out a short huff and without a word, she pushed past him and left the bedroom, ignoring the way she had to brush against his chest and the way her entire body felt as if it was engulfed in flames from just the short contact.

Downstairs, she found Carol and Sophia in the kitchen.

"Hi," Beth smiled at them both, stepping in the room.

"Hi," Carol smiled in return. "How was the shower?"

"So wonderful. Thank you for letting me use it. Daryl's taking his shower now."

"Is Daryl your boyfriend?" Sophia asked with a giggle in her voice.

Beth managed to keep smiling though she would rather be punched than answer that particular question. _No, not my boyfriend. He's absolutely repulsed by even being within inches of me_. "No," Beth said, shaking her head. "He's my…" friend? She had called him her friend but did he think the same of her? They were traveling together and that was why there were together. They were getting away from Georgia together and nothing more than that. "He's my traveling companion," she decided on even though the words didn't sound right to her own ears.

"Daryl said that you love coffee," Carol changed the subject and Beth wondered if the woman could sense her discomfort. "I make a big pot every morning before I leave for work. I'm addicted, too," she gave Beth a quick wink and Beth instantly relaxed, smiling easily now. "I have a thermos you can take with you tomorrow morning."

Beth instantly opened her mouth to argue. "Carol, you've already done so much for me. I can't take anything else from you."

Carol just gave her a look. "It's a plastic thermos, Beth. Not the holy grail."

Daryl was right about Carol not wanting to listen.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Beth asked, watching as Carol worked on layering the noodles, meat and cheese in the pan to be baked for the lasagna.

"Yes, actually. Can you help Sophia outside? We're growing green beans and I know that we have plenty that are ready to be picked," Carol said.

"I would love to help," Beth smiled and followed Sophia out the back door.

"Don't you want to get your shoes?" Sophia asked her as they stopped on the top step of the small concrete steps.

Beth just smiled again and shook her head. "I've had this habit since I was a little girl. I have such a hard time wearing shoes in the summer."

Sophia looked down at her bare feet and then at her own shoes, seeming to be thinking about something. She then sat down and pulled her own shoes and socks off and Beth hoped Carol wouldn't mind.

Sophia led them down the steps to the vegetable plants they had growing alongside the back of the house. Green beans and tomatoes and cucumbers. Green and lush and obviously cared for. Sophia showed her the green bean plants and they kneeled down together in the soft grass, warm from the sun, beginning to comb through the plants, plucking the beans big and fat enough to be picked. Beth began humming to herself as they worked and Sophia looked at her with a small smile.

"Are you a singer?" Sophia asked.

"I am," Beth smiled brightly at that. "I sing and play the guitar and write my own music. Daryl and I have gone to a couple places already to let me perform."

"Can you sing something for me?" Sophia then asked eagerly.

Beth didn't hesitate in nodding her head. "I didn't write this one but it's been stuck in my head for most of the day," she said and Sophia smiled, sitting up, waiting. Beth continued looking for more green beans and picking as she began to sing.

"It was a close call/Sitting in the back of the room/With a ball I had thrown at you/And you didn't know/Close in on my black eye/I feel safe at times/Certain emblems/Tell me it's time/Serpents in my mind/Looking for your crimes/Everything changes/I don't want mine to this time."

"Wow," Sophia breathed and Beth smiled, not continuing to sing but resuming in her humming. "Are you going to be a famous singer?"

Beth laughed a little at that. "I'm not sure. I don't even know if I want that."

"But you could be!" Sophia insisted. "You could be Taylor Swift or someone like that if you wanted to be!"

"Daryl said the same thing," Beth said, recalling one of their conversations as they drove. "But really, I just want… I'd be happy on any stage, anywhere in this world. As long as I got to sing for someone."

"You can sing to me any time you want," Sophia said.

Beth laughed again. "Thank you," she said and leaned in, kissing the girl's head. "I think we have them all. What do you think?" She asked, looking to the pile of beans.

Inside the kitchen once more, she saw that Daryl was there now, too, wearing jeans and a tee-shirt with slightly damp hair. His eyes instantly fell on her as she came through the door and she wondered if he could hear her singing.

"Look, mom," Sophia dumped all of the green beans on the counter and smiled as Carol looked them all over. "The tomatoes are almost ready to be picked, too."

"Beautiful," Carol smiled and kissed Sophia on the head. She looked to Beth. "Dinner is going to be ready in about an hour and I've told Daryl that I can give his hair a cut. Would you like be to cut your hair, too."

"Oh, no, I'm alright. Thank you though," Beth said, her fingers going to the ends of her braid, hanging over her shoulder. She then looked to Daryl's hair, a little on the long side, and she wondered how short he was going to cut it. She never thought she liked longer hair on guys but there was something about it on Daryl's. She hoped he didn't cut it too short. "I actually am going to go upstairs and check in with my dad."

She smiled at Carol and Sophia as she left the room but she made sure she didn't look at Daryl again.

…

Daryl told himself again and again that it was no big deal. It wasn't as if Beth was completely ignoring him. At dinner, she had asked him for his plate so she could scoop some more lasagna onto it for him and she had handed him an extra napkin and had sat next to him at the table during the meal. But every time she looked at him, it was no longer with that sunshine brightness and Daryl wondered how he could miss something after only having it for just a few days.

He knew it was his fault. Things like this were always his fault. He had a tendency to screw up most things in life – according to his old man and Merle, anyway, and since those were the two he had spent most of his life around, he believed what they said.

Beth wasn't an idiot and she was able to pick up on his moods – but he wasn't going to dwell on how she got so damn good at reading him in just the short amount of time they had known one another – and she knew that he was hesitant now around her. So it seemed like Beth was doing him a favor and keeping herself away.

And having her right next to him but knowing she wasn't there at all, it left him with an ache in the center of his chest he had never felt before. He didn't know what the hell it was. How could he miss her when he was looking right at her?

After dinner and helping Carol clean up and playing a couple of games of UNO with Sophia, the long day caught up to them all and they all went to bed pretty early.

Beth changed into her pajamas first and when Daryl came back into the bedroom, she was already in the bed beneath the covers, her back turned to him and lying as close to she could to the edge without actually falling off. Daryl was quick to pull off his jeans and left himself in his boxers and tee-shirt. He stood at the side of the bed, staring down at the wide expanse of space that Beth had left him. She had ensured that not an inch of her body would touch his.

And yet, he still found himself hesitating. He had never shared a bed with a woman before. Especially a woman like Beth. Even standing there, he could smell her and she smelled so damn good and he had the urge to just bury his nose in her hair and inhale her as if she was a line of coke; as if he wanted her running through his veins.

Those thoughts scared the shit out of him.

He then heard Beth sigh softly.

"It's just for a few hours, Daryl," she told him in a quiet voice and he could have sworn that she sounded almost sad.

"Think I'll just sleep on the floor," he said before he could stop himself and she sighed again. She didn't roll over to look at him and he looked at her back, waiting to see if she would say anything. He didn't know what he wanted her to say though.

But when he reached for the second pillow, Beth suddenly sat up and looked at him.

"You know what?"

She threw the covers back and stood up and he almost blushed because she was wearing that NASA tee-shirt and nothing else and he couldn't help but look at her long pale legs. How could someone that short have legs that long? And did she shave them today? Even in the dimness of the bedroom, he swore he could have seen how smooth they looked, too.

Daryl remembered himself and his eyes snapped up and stayed on her face though he almost flinched and looked away again. She was pissed. He recognized the look of anger well on anyone's face.

"I'll go sleep downstairs on the couch. You can have the bed," Beth said, snatching her pillow and hugging it to her chest.

"The couch's broken," he heard himself remind her.

"A few springs in the back would be better than enduring this night with someone who wanted to be nowhere near me," she snapped at him and began to stomp around the bed and storm past him to the door.

And he didn't know what it was. He really didn't. He should just let her go and be angry and only hope that in the morning, things would be fine again between them. He told himself to let her storm out and he would still sleep on the floor.

But he didn't do any of that.

Instead, when she tried to storm past him, Daryl reached out and took hold of her arm. Not hard or tight but in a grasp firm enough to stop her. He wasn't surprised when Beth tried to wrestle her arm free again and he told himself to let her go.

But again, he didn't listen to himself.

Because what he did was the complete opposite of letting her go. He looked at the fire burning in her eyes and the flush of red across her cheeks and all he seemed capable of doing was lean down and press his lips to hers.

And within a second, Beth had stopped struggling and her arms were thrown around his neck and his own hands were grasping her hips.

…

* * *

 **Hopefully not too predictable.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	11. Bog Down's

…

 **Chapter Eleven.**

As planned, they got themselves ready to leave at six the next morning as Carol was getting herself ready for work. Sophia was awake as well and looked like she was going to cry, as if she had known them both for so much longer than less than twenty-four hours.

Beth hugged her tightly, her own eyes feeling wet with tears.

"Don't be sad," Beth told her. "We'll come and visit," she said but then looked to Carol to make sure that it was alright she had just said that.

Carol just gave her a small, warm smile as she handed Daryl a thermos filled with coffee. "You two are welcome back anytime," she said.

Beth hugged Sophia tightly and kissed the girl on the head and then went to Carol, the woman embracing her and Beth wrapping her arms around her in return.

"I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for us," Beth told her quietly.

"You two are welcome back any time and I mean that. If you get tired of driving and traveling, this door is always welcome to you," Carol said, beginning with her eyes on Beth then ending with them on Daryl, making sure he knew he was included.

"Will you send me a postcard from California?" Sophia asked with growing excitement, the tears in her eyes all but forgotten now.

"Of course I will," Beth genuinely and automatically promised her before hugging her again and Carol went to give Daryl a quick hug as if she knew that he would necessarily be comfortable with such a display. But Sophia didn't seem to care and she rushed to him, throwing her arms around his middle, and it looked as if Daryl was going to smile, his lips twitching as he patted the girl on her back.

Daryl and Beth got into the car then, Daryl behind the wheel, silently deciding that he would drive this morning, and Beth gave one more wave to Carol and Sophia as they stood in the driveway, waving back and watching them as Daryl drove away.

"It's strange," Beth mused quietly after they had been driving for a few minutes. Daryl glanced at her before back to the road and Beth carefully twisted the cap off the thermos, taking a greedy first swallow of coffee. "The way you can connect with certain people. Some people, you meet and if it's as if you have known them your whole life," she said as her eyes slowly moved to look at Daryl.

But he kept his eyes on the road and didn't say anything.

He hadn't said _anything_ about last night and Beth couldn't help but begin to feel anxious about the whole thing because she did want to talk about it. She couldn't help it. That's who she was. She talked. She talked about her thoughts and feelings and being on the road with Daryl for almost a week, she already knew too well how little he liked to talk about anything so she knew better than to hold her breath, waiting for him to start this conversation or to even explain himself.

Not that he really had to explain himself. It was obvious he had wanted to kiss her so he did. But now, they had to talk about it. Didn't they? They couldn't just kiss and never discuss it further. Beth had so many questions in her head. What did it mean? Was everything different between them or was everything going to stay the same? And she didn't even know what she wanted but she knew she wanted them to kiss again. Not that she was any sort of expert on kissing but she knew the kiss Daryl had planted on her last night had been the best kiss she had ever received in her life.

It had made her stomach clench and her toes curl and even now, hours afterwards, just thinking about it again, Beth began to feel tingles shocking everywhere in her body. She looked to Daryl and wondered if he had felt anything when he kissed her. The same clenching and tingles or had he kissed her and felt absolutely nothing?

Maybe she didn't want to talk about the kiss with him because if he did wind up admitting to her that he had felt absolutely nothing while she felt like she was crawling out of her skin, she didn't know if she would be able to take that.

They had kissed until they were both breathless and then they had slept in the bed together, his back to her and her back to him. When he had pulled his lips from hers, Daryl looked at her and Beth's eyes fluttered open to look at her and both of their chests were heaving up and down as if they had just completed a marathon. She hadn't known what to say and all she knew in her fog-covered mind was that she definitely wanted him to kiss her again. But Daryl had remained silent and his arms slipped from her as he took a step back and she could tell from the pink tips of his ears that he was embarrassed. So Beth remained silent, not wanting to embarrass him further by asking him about it.

But hours had passed now and her lips still tingled and Beth was feeling frustrated from his lack of any sort of reaction to what had happened between them last night.

Since they had filled on gas the morning before and Daryl still had one pack of cigarettes and Beth had plenty of coffee, they had no reason to stop at the BP station this morning and once Daryl got them heading west, they kept driving. She had absolutely no plans for once they got to Louisiana – not that anything so far in this trip had been planned – and she wondered if Daryl wanted to do anything for once.

She looked to him again and took another sip of coffee. "I've never been to Louisiana before," she said, breaking the silence hanging between them. "I wonder if that's why I'm so excited. Have you ever seen _True Blood_? I think that's my only reference to anything Louisiana. That and seeing pictures of Mardi Gras in New Orleans but I never have had any desire to go there. I could just imagine being the only girl to _not_ get any beads for showing her breasts. I would lift my shirt and the guys would probably look at me, asking me where they were. Not that I would ever just lift my shirt for some cheap plastic beads. My sister, probably, but not me. No one has ever seen me without a shirt on except Zach and even he seemed a little disappointed the first time."

She was rambling and she knew it and she felt her cheeks warm a little as she heard herself talking about her breasts. She had no idea what she was talking about and she quickly turned her head to look out her window, distracting herself with taking another sip of coffee. As if she wanted to talk about her breasts or her ex-boyfriend.

"Sounds like Zach's an idiot," Daryl said in his gruff quiet voice after a minute.

Beth felt herself smiling, the tension in her shoulders easing a little. "Well, I've certainly seen light bulbs brighter than him," she said and she watched as he kept looking at the road but his lips twitched in a smile. And it made her smile, too.

"Not Mardi Gras right now," Daryl continued. "You wanna go to New Orleans?"

Beth thought of that for a moment. "Could we? Maybe I could sing somewhere," she said, beginning to grow eager at just the thought.

Daryl shrugged a shoulder. "Not like we got a plan or we're on some sort of schedule. If you wanna go, we'll go."

"What do _you_ want to do?" She asked him.

He was quiet for a moment. "You ask me that a lot," he then commented softly.

"Well, why wouldn't I? It's your road trip, too. It can't be all about me, Daryl," she said, turning in her seat slightly so she could look at him better. She sipped at her coffee. "You've never been out of Georgia but you must have thought of leaving. What did you think about when you imagined yourself getting out?"

She didn't think he would answer. He drove with his right hand and his left elbow was on the open window. His eyes were staring straight again and she could see the slight tension in his jaw. She knew she had just crossed some sort of invisible line with him. Daryl didn't talk about why he left Georgia except for a brief mention of a brother and he certainly wasn't opening up about that. She knew he probably never would and that was alright if he didn't want to. There were plenty of things she hadn't told him and she didn't know if she would.

She wondered if he had seen the bracelets she always wore, hiding her left wrist, and had already figured it out for himself without needing an explanation from her. But if he had, he didn't pry and Beth was going to extend the same courtesy and not pry about things in his life unless he was the one to tell her.

"Guess I never imagined myself leavin'," he admitted after a minute.

"Never?" She didn't know why but she didn't know if she believed that.

He shrugged his shoulder again. "Saw no point in imagin' it. Never thought I would get out so never saw a point to thinkin' 'bout it."

Beth looked at him and his words made her feel a great wave of sadness wash over her. She didn't know if she had ever met a person who had never dreamt before.

And she couldn't help herself. She told herself not to. She told herself that it was the completely wrong thing to do and she didn't know how he would react and she imagined that he probably didn't want it but she promptly ignored her inner thoughts and she leaned over the middle console.

Without pausing to think about it more, she pressed her lips to his cheek in a kiss.

…

Daryl found himself frowning from their table. He didn't like this place. It seemed nice enough – clean and well-cared for – but it gave him a prick on the back of his neck. A bad feeling and he had learned to never ignore his instincts. But he and Beth had stopped at the random restaurant in the small random swamp town because they had been driving for hours and they were both tired and hungry and Daryl did admit that it would feel nice to stretch when Beth suggested it.

They went inside and sat down at a worn wooden table and a waitress in a low-cut top and dyed yellow hair came to hand them two menus. For being the middle of the day, it was a little crowded – women who wore too much makeup and too-tight of clothes for someone with their particular weight probably shouldn't be wearing and guys with greasy hair and trucker caps and beer bellies. Daryl realized he was wearing that stupid trucker cap that Beth had bought for him at the gas station a few mornings earlier and he was quick to whip it off his head.

"Excuse me, is that a stage?" Beth asked the waitress, pointing to a platform in the back of the restaurant near the pool tables.

"Sure is, sugar," the waitress answered with a strong southern twang. "We get a band playin' in here every Saturday. You sing?"

"I do," Beth nodded with a smile. "Do you think I could…" she trailed off then as if unsure of how to finish the request.

"Lemme go talk to my boss. You two know what you want?"

They ordered Cokes and hamburgers and Daryl was beginning to think that if they weren't eating peanut butter sandwiches, they were eating burgers.

"You really wanna sing in here?" Daryl asked, slouching a little in his seat once the waitress had gone off to put their order in and Beth's eyes rested on the stage.

She looked at him and gave him a small smile.

He couldn't help but look at her lips, feeling his own sparking at just the memory of being pressed to hers the night before. He wondered what she would do if he leaned over right now and kissed her. He didn't though. He knew she probably wouldn't mind. She had kissed his cheek in the car earlier, after all, but still, he held himself back. He didn't do things like that. That was Merle. Merle was the one who flirted and grabbed girls and kissed them – whether they wanted his attention or not. Daryl had always been the shy Dixon and he was still shocked that he had made a move on Beth at all. He usually would have just kept himself distanced from her, watching her and imaging what it would be like to kiss her instead of sitting there, already having the knowledge of what it had felt like and knowing what she tasted like.

"You know me," she said as if they had known one another for years. "I just want to sing." Her eyes went back to the stage and Daryl kept watching her.

He knew that was all she wanted but still, he didn't know if he wanted her singing in this place in front of this crowd. He was sure most of them were nice. Just some poor, slightly trashy, people. Just like him. But the others, he felt the prick when he looked at them. They reminded him of his brother. Rude and rowdy and rough as hell. He didn't want Beth to be standing in front of any of them, calling attention to herself.

But when the waitress came back and told Beth that her boss said she could sing if she wanted to, Beth beamed as bright as the sun and Daryl bit his tongue, not prepared to tell her that she couldn't go up there. He had absolutely no right to tell her that. She turned towards him and before he could even react, she kissed him quickly on the lips and then she was hurrying towards the stage.

A man in jeans, tee-shirt and cowboy boots was already standing at the stage, turning on the microphone and fiddling with the sound system and Daryl figured it was the boss of the place. He smiled at Beth and Beth smiled at him and they exchanged a handshake and a few words before the man stood behind the microphone.

"We gotta an impromptu performance this afternoon at Bog Down's. Beth Greene has come here all the way from Georgia to sing for you folks so everyone be nice."

He then stepped from the microphone and Beth took his place, smiling out, and Daryl could practically feel her excitement radiating off of her. His eyes instantly cut towards a table of men when he heard a sharp wolf's whistle from one of the men but Beth seemed to ignore it as she wet her lips.

And then she began to sing without any music playing and Daryl recognized it instantly as that Etta James song she had been singing a couple days earlier. Her eyes found him and she settled them on him, never looking away as she sang. And Daryl found himself absolutely unable to look away from her and her words gave him a clenching in his stomach that was now all-too familiar when Beth was around.

" _I want a Sunday kind of love._

 _A love to last past Saturday night._

 _And I'd like to know it's more than love at first sight._

 _And I want a Sunday kind of love._

 _Oh yeah, yeah._

 _I want a, a love that's on the square._

 _Can't seem to find somebody,_

 _Someone to care._

 _And I'm on a lonely road that leads to nowhere._

 _I need a Sunday kind of love."_

As it usually did, when Beth sang, it was as if she was casting a spell over everyone that listened and the restaurant began to slowly grow quiet as they all listened to her. Everyone except that table of men. Three guys laughing and leering and Daryl's eyes fell from Beth's to settle on them, watching them, his jaw tightening, feeling his blood pump a little hotter and faster as the same guy let out another whistle.

"Take it off!" One of the others called out and then they all laughed.

Beth didn't miss a beat though and kept singing her song. Everyone else seemed to be ignoring them, too, but Daryl couldn't. Not when they were acting like assholes towards Beth, of all people. He couldn't just sit there and as soon as he thought that, he felt himself getting to his feet and approaching the table.

He didn't say anything. He just stood there and soon, the three guys became aware of his presence. They all looked up at him and Daryl stared down at them. In the background, he could hear Beth singing but the blood pumping in his ears as his anger grew began to block her out. The men's laughter and smiles began to fade as Daryl stood there and they realized that Daryl wasn't there to be friendly with them.

"You gotta problem?" One of them asked.

"Yeah," Daryl said and then looked to the man who had shouted the take it off comment.

He had a flat bridge as if he had already had his nose broken before. Daryl was a little pissed he wouldn't be the first to punch this guy but that wasn't going to stop him from doing it now.

Without another word, Daryl brought his fist back and threw the first punch in the guy's nose, the force and surprise of it knocking him out of his chair and onto the floor. The other two guys were instantly on their feet but Daryl was ready for them and didn't hesitate in throwing more punches as they threw their own at him.

Daryl couldn't hear Beth singing anymore.

…

* * *

 **We are going to be meeting Sherriff Rick for the first time in the next chapter.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	12. Welcome to Beauton

**I've missed this story and this chapter just kind of flew out of me this morning. I also love T-Dog and always try to find a way to get him into my AU stories.**

* * *

…

 **Chapter Twelve.**

She was sitting right next to him but she wasn't talking to him and he had no idea what to say so he didn't talk either. The cop's car flashed its red and blue lights in front of the restaurant and they sat on the street curb, watching and waiting as the Sheriff talked with the three guys who had been in the fight with Daryl. They were all sporting cuts and bruises and they were all shooting the occasional glare at Daryl as the Sheriff took down their statements.

Daryl focused on them rather than Beth. He knew she was probably pissed at him or maybe even scared and he hadn't wanted to do anything like that in front of her – act like typical Dixons were prone to do – but he hadn't been able to help himself. He heard those guys calling out to her and he hadn't been able to stop his anger from growing. Even if they hadn't kissed and weren't whatever the hell they were, Daryl still would have defended her. She had picked him up, they were on this trip together. He was going to keep her safe as long as they were together because Beth had this bad habit of seeing nothing but good in the world and Daryl saw nothing but the bad and he knew he would have to keep her safe.

He was startled from his thoughts when Beth's hand suddenly touched his. His eyes jerked over to look at her but she wasn't looking at him. Instead, she was looking at the three guys across the parking lot. He looked at her for a moment and then down to her hand touching his. She slid her fingers over and she then laced hers with his. Her hand was cold even in the humid Louisiana night and Daryl found himself squeezing her hand as if in an attempt to warm it up for her.

"Thank you," she said softly then and he lifted his eyes again, finding that she was looking at him. She gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "For what you did in there, thank you," she clarified.

He shrugged. "Prob'ly gonna get arrested for it," he mumbled.

"Not if I can help it," she shook her head and squeezed his hand back and she turned her head, looking back towards the Sheriff.

Daryl didn't look away from her though. She wasn't reacting exactly the way he had been expecting. He had thought she would be afraid of him after getting into a fight with three other guys in a bar. He thought for sure that she would distance herself from him now and suggest that they go their own ways from now on. He knew Beth well enough after just a few days to know that Beth wasn't the sort of girl who had ever really witnessed violence. In movies or on TV, sure, but not in person; not seeing it happen right in front of her and involving someone she knew.

Some people – most people – didn't have the stomach for it and most times, Daryl really didn't either. His whole damn life had been violent and he avoided it all costs now if he could help it. Tagging along with Merle hadn't made that exactly easy though. Merle and trouble were drawn to each other like burgers and cheese or Beth and a microphone and Daryl had always had Merle's back whenever Merle had needed it. And Merle had needed it constantly.

Being with Merle was exhausting and when Daryl had finally gotten away from him, he hadn't expected to be tired like that again but sitting on the curb with Beth outside of Bog Down's, his entire body felt drained.

Beth standing up suddenly broke him from his thoughts and he looked to see that the Sheriff was now approaching them. Daryl pulled himself up to his feet as well and took the chance to get a good look at the uniformed man. He was middle age – probably in his early forties – and lean with slightly tanned skin and a scruffy face from going a couple of days without shaving. He had taken his hat off and he had dark brown curly hair, sweat dotting his forehead.

"Evening," he greeted to both of them with a head nod. "I'm Sheriff Grimes in charge of this Parish."

Daryl stood there and didn't say anything. It was instinct. Reflex. He didn't like cops and they sure as hell didn't like him. He was nothing more than a white-trash redneck and none respected him so why should he ever give them respect back?

"Good evening. I'm Beth and this is Daryl," Beth answered politely.

"Where are you two from?" Sheriff Grimes asked, his eyes resting on Beth for a moment before moving over to Daryl, studying him for a longer minute.

Daryl knew the Sheriff was probably trying to figure out how a piece of trash like him got to be lucky enough to be standing anywhere near this pretty girl. The man's head would probably explode if he knew that Daryl knew what her lips tasted like.

"We're from Georgia," Beth answered. "We've been traveling for the past week."

"Where you two headed?" Grimes asked.

Daryl expected her to say California because it would be the truth. California was where she was going. Wasn't where he was going though but Beth didn't know that and this Sheriff didn't need to know that either.

"We don't really have a plan right now," Beth answered and Daryl couldn't help but look at her at her response. "We're just kind of driving and seeing what we want."

Sheriff Grimes nodded, looking at Beth and then to Daryl again. "Want to tell me what happened here tonight?"

Daryl didn't answer him. He just stared at the Sheriff and the Sheriff stared right back, waiting for Daryl to speak. He waited for the man to look away first but he never did. Daryl knew what the man saw when he looked at him. Trashy poor hillbilly with a split lip and blackening eye with too long hair and a hole in his jeans. Sheriff probably saw at least five guys just like him every night and Daryl knew neither were going to be the one to look away first.

"Beth was singin' on stage. Those assholes startin' sayin' shit 'bout her. Got 'em to shut up," Daryl finally spoke, explaining it in his grunt.

"They were saying some pretty uncomfortable things," Beth added in her too-sweet voice and she took a step over to stand closer to Daryl.

Sheriff Grimes looked at them for a moment and then exhaled a heavy breath. "Doesn't surprise me. Those three are usually a problem for me at least twice a week. You alright, miss?" He asked.

"Beth," she reminded him. "And I'm alright. Is Daryl going to be arrested?" She then asked and she sounded worried but Daryl felt her stiffen beside him as if preparing herself for battle depending on how the Sheriff answered her question.

The Sheriff went back to looking at Daryl for a moment and Daryl began wondering how the hell Beth would be able to bail him out if those cuffs were slapped on him. She probably wouldn't be able to. They didn't have enough money for something like that and he'd probably sit in jail until he got a court date and he wouldn't expect Beth to stay in Louisiana, waiting for him.

Daryl sighed heavily. He wasn't exactly surprised with this turn of events. Getting into trouble and getting arrested seemed to be in his blood whether he was with Merle or not. Didn't matter how far away from his older brother he got. Daryl was a Dixon and he always would be and things like this happened to Dixons no matter how badly they tried to make sure they didn't.

"No, I'm not going to be arresting him. Can't punish a man for protecting his girl," he said and Daryl felt the tips of his ears start to burn at that.

His girl. He glanced to Beth from the corner of his eye. He supposed that's what she was though he sure as hell didn't know. He wasn't going to argue with it though. It sounded kind of nice, he admitted. His girl. He had never had anything or anyone like her before in his life. Someone so good. Someone who stood at his side instead of running off, letting him shoulder the blame all on his own.

He wondered how Beth felt about being called his girl.

"I'm going to talk with T-Dog. He's the owner here. See what he wants to do," Sheriff Grimes continued. "Talk to a few other people. Not that I don't believe you. I just want to get everyone's story," he explained.

He tipped his head to both of them and then they watched him walk towards the restaurant where a stocky, muscular black man with a shaved head stood on the front steps, smoking a cigarette. He and the Sheriff shook hands and then dove into a conversation that couldn't be heard from the curb.

Beth let out a deep breath and then turned to Daryl. She lifted her hands and touched him with light fingers, tips brushing across his lip and the bruise beneath his eye. He then went completely still as she rose herself on her toes then and her lips brushed across the bone beneath the eye.

"We need to clean your lip," she said and he nodded, not arguing. He doubted he'd be able to say a single word right now. His throat felt as if it hadn't had liquid pour down it in at least a week. He had never had such a dry throat.

Beth loosely twined her fingers with his and he followed her like a puppy to the car. Bog Down's was somewhat in the swamp and besides the flashing blue and red lights from the Sheriff's car, there were just a couple of streetlamps shining along the way and Beth had parked beneath one. He could hear the bugs buzzing above their heads, flying to the glassed-in light again and again. He heard crickets and bullfrogs and someone had started playing a Patsy Cline song from the jukebox inside. Daryl recognized Patsy Cline. His mama had always loved her.

Beth opened the back hatch and dug around for something before she pulled out a small first-aid kit. "Sit," she said and Daryl dutifully sat down on the back of the hatch and Beth came to stand between his knees. He didn't even flinch as she took the cotton ball with antiseptic on it to his lip. "Well, this has definitely been an adventure tonight," she then said with a faint smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

Daryl felt himself smirking, looking to her face as she seemed to be deep in concentration as she cleaned his lip. "When you said you wanted to see the world, I didn' think you meant things like this."

Beth shrugged at that. "This is part of the world."

"Shouldn' be a part of yours," he said in a quieter voice.

Beth dabbed a couple of more times with the cotton ball and then kissed him softly on the opposite side of his mouth. She didn't say anything to his comment and Daryl closed his eyes as he felt her warm breath on his face. He didn't want her to think about how this was pretty normal for his world and it was glaringly obvious how much she didn't belong in this world with him.

They heard the crunch of gravel and they turned their heads to see the owner of the place, T-Dog, walking towards them. Behind him, there was the skinny white man with cowboy boots who had introduced Beth before she took the stage earlier.

"Hey. I'm T-Dog. I own this place," the man smiled at them, which confused Daryl for a moment, as Beth pushed herself a step back from him and Daryl stood up again.

"Hi," Beth smiled warmly. "I'm Beth and this is Daryl," she made the introductions.

"And I'm Axel," the white man spoke up with a grin. "Bartender here."

"Sorry about tonight. I was listening to you from the kitchen and you sounded real great," T-Dog said to Beth and Beth beamed. "Was wondering what your plans are."

"Plans?" Beth repeated and then looked up to Daryl with a slightly furrowed brow before looking back to T-Dog and Axel.

"Was wondering if you wanted to hang around or if you two were just passing through. Sing a set every night here."

Beth gasped at the offer.

"I'd pay you, of course. Could afford you for a week – if you're interested," T-Dog said, looking at Beth before his eyes floated over to Daryl. "I'd find some work for you to do, too, around here if you're looking."

"He is," Beth answered quickly before Daryl could even open his mouth. "And I'm very interested." She bobbed her head up and down quickly. "Would I be able to sing anything?" She asked. "I've written some of my own songs-"

"That'd be great," T-Dog smiled widely. "I gotta house just a little bit away from here. You can stay with me if you want so you don't have to stay in the motel. Town's got only one motel and you'd be sharing it with the cockroaches for the week."

Beth looked up at Daryl and Daryl looked down to her. This all sounded too good to be true, to be honest. A paying job and a place to stay for the week? Is this how normal people were? Nice and friendly and willing to help a person out? Daryl had never experienced anything like it before and he knew that if he hadn't met Beth, he sure as hell still wouldn't be experiencing any of this.

He didn't say anything but he gave Beth the slightest of head nods and when she saw it, she burst in a smile, looking back to T-Dog and Axel.

"That would be amazing," Beth said. "Thank you."

T-Dog grinned widely. "No, thank _you_. With the way your voice is, you're gonna be packing this place for me every night," he said and Daryl could see Beth's cheeks blush even in the darkness of the lot. "The fight happened before you were able to really eat. Come on in and I'll make you some fresh burgers. You're probably starving. Fighting does that to a man."

T-Dog and Axel turned and started heading back towards the restaurant but Beth and Daryl remained lingering next to the car for another moment. A giggle then escaped past her lips and Daryl, smirked, looking at her. She shook her head and looked up at him.

"A week. I just got my first gig," she said, beaming and still giggling, looking up at him, and Daryl's smirk slid into a slight smile.

"No one deserves it more, girl," he said in reply and Beth's smile somehow widened even more and she leaned into him, slipping an arm around his waist. Daryl didn't think about it and just did it. He took his arm and dropped it around her shoulders and together, they started heading back towards Bog Down's.

Inside, the little bit of mess that the fight had caused had been cleaned up and Axel showed them to a booth this time, asking if they wanted anything to drink. He came back with two Cokes and then went away again, returning to his spot behind the bar.

"I need to start working on a set list," Beth said, her eyes resting on the small stage for a moment and Daryl swore that he saw her actually glowing. "This is the first stage I'll be on and get paid to be on." She looked back to him, her smile never fading.

Daryl took a sip of his Coke. "May be your first but it's definitely not your last," he said and he said the words with the utmost confidence because he knew they were the truth. No way was the world never going to hear from Beth Greene.

Beth's eyes were so warm as they rested on him. "Maybe not but you know that you always remember your first."

Daryl let out a sudden cough at her words and Beth let out a soft giggle, her cheeks blushing to show her clear embarrassment, and she quickly moved her eyes away to avoid his.

Just as a waitress came to drop off two burgers and a basket of fries, the door opened and the Sheriff came back in. His eyes settled on them and he came their way, stopping at the table.

"Mind if I sit for a minute?" He asked.

"Not at all," Beth smiled at him and slid over so he could sit down beside her. "Is everything alright?" She asked.

"Fine," Sheriff nodded and gave them both a slight smile before holding up a finger, signaling to Axel. A second later, a waitress returned to the table, setting a glass of lemonade down in front of the Sheriff. "Heard you're sticking around for a while."

"A week," Daryl grunted before taking a bite of his burger.

"And after a week?" He asked.

Beth shrugged. "We've kind of just been following roads so we have no idea."

They fell quiet for a moment as Daryl ate his burger and Beth squirted ketchup over the fries and Sheriff Grimes sipped his lemonade.

"Sheriff, can I ask you something?" Beth asked.

"Of course," Sheriff smiled warmly at her and Daryl almost smirked in amusement. He wondered if anyone was capable of _not_ smiling when they looked at Beth.

"Where _are_ we?" She asked and Sheriff let out a chuckle.

"Beauton, Louisiana," he answered. "Welcome to Beauton."

Beth smiled at that. "Beauton," she repeated as if testing the town's name on her tongue. She then looked to Daryl with a smile. "I think I'm going to like it here."

Daryl didn't say anything but he didn't argue. No reason to. Beauton sounded like it could turn out to be an alright place for both of them and he knew that as long as he was staying here with Beth, he pretty much liked Beauton already, too.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading!  
**


	13. Honest Work

**My muse was really feeling this story yesterday and this morning.**

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…

 **Chapter Thirteen.** Honest Work.

T-Dog lived in a small single-story house right next to the swamp with two bedrooms and a dock in the back with a motorboat tied to it. T-Dog said that sometimes, he went shooting alligators when it was the season to. Louisiana had an alligator population like most states had with deer and T-Dog invited Daryl to come with him one of these times – "If you're still around," he had added and Daryl had just nodded his head. It sounded like it could be something to do – and Daryl did miss hunting – but he didn't know where he would be for alligator season.

Beth looked at the double bed in the second small bedroom and she looked back to Daryl as he came into the room behind her but he didn't even blink an eye at it. T-Dog didn't have air-conditioning in his house but he had a ceiling fan and a small window unit and he told Beth that she could turn it as high as she wanted. Louisiana humidity was something he was used to but he knew visiting people wouldn't be.

By the time Bog Down's had closed for the night and T-Dog cleaned up, it was after eleven and Daryl followed him down the dark road in Beth's car to the dark house.

T-Dog showed her the bathroom and where the fresh towels were kept and Beth took a shower, smiling to herself the whole time, hardly believing hers and Daryl's luck. Over the past couple of days, they had met so many nice people. Carol and Sophia. T-Dog, Axel and Sheriff Grimes. And she was glad Daryl was with her to meet all of these nice people, too. He needed to be reminded that there were good people in this world and not everything was always so horrible.

After turning the shower off, she wrapped a towel around her body and wiped her hand across the mirror so she could see her reflection through the pent-up steam. She hummed to herself as she combed her hair and thought of what she would sing the next night on that little stage. She had her guitar, too, so she could sing her own songs and some covers, too. She loved singing covers by Vance Joy and Joni Mitchell. She wondered what the patrons of Bog Down's would want to hear. They had seemed to enjoy listening to Etta James before the fight. Daryl seemed to really enjoy Etta James, too. Beth would definitely make sure to sing some Etta James.

She left the bedroom and stepped across the hallway back into the small bedroom. Daryl was still wearing his jeans and tee-shirt but his boots were off and he was lying on his back on the bed. His blinks were slow as he began falling asleep and Beth went to her bag in the corner, looking over her shoulder to see that he wasn't looking in her direction. He wasn't. And she quickly donned a pair of underwear and a her NASA tee-shirt to sleep in before turning back towards the bed.

They had kissed once but they hadn't kissed again and though Beth would like to, she also felt that they perhaps should take this thing slow between them; certainly not ready for him to see her naked - yet. And it seemed as if Daryl might agree because he certainly wasn't making any moves on her to kiss her again. She knew she would like to kiss him again though and she only hoped that he shared the same thought on the matter.

"The shower's free," she stated the obvious.

"I'll take one tomorrow mornin'. Too tired right now," he grunted.

Beth was too hot to even think about sleeping underneath the covers tonight so she climbed onto the bed beside Daryl and leaned back against the two pillows behind her. She unlocked her phone and pulled her daddy's name up in her contacts. She hit the number and brought the phone to her ear, listening to it ring three times before her daddy picked up and when she heard his voice, she instantly broke into a smile.

"Hi, daddy!" Beth greeted happily.

"Hi, Bethy. How are you? Where are you?" Hershel asked, sounding wide awake despite the late hour.

"I'm in Beauton, Louisiana," she answered. "A little east of New Orleans. _Very_ small and in the middle of nowhere. I already love it here. Just something about it. I'm sleeping in the swamp right now."

"In the actual swamp? You get yourself a nice room for the night?" Hershel continued to press and she knew he was only doing it because he was worried.

He may have given her his blessing for this trip but that didn't mean he didn't think about her and worry about her every minute of every day.

Beth spent the next few minutes, telling him about getting a gig at Bog Down's for the week and the nice owner, T-Dog, who was letting her stay at his house, and how excited she was because it was her first _paying_ gig and she couldn't wait to start.

After she hung up with Hershel, she smothered a yawn with her hand and placing the phone on the nightstand beside the bed, she scooted so she was lying down.

"I haven't told him about you yet," Beth confessed in a quiet voice.

Daryl shrugged a shoulder. "Don't blame 'ya. If I had a daughter, I wouldn' wan' her travelin' 'round with a guy like me."

Beth turned her head towards him. "Do you? Have a daughter?" She clarified.

Daryl's eyes opened and he turned his head to look at her in return. "What the hell kind of question is that?" He asked.

It was her turn to shrug. "I'm just wondering. Just trying to get to know you better."

"And that's your way of doin' it? Askin' if I have any illegitimate children runnin' 'round?" He asked and for a moment, Beth thought she had somehow angered him but then she could see the corners of his mouth twitch as if he was trying to keep himself from smiling and she felt her shoulders relax.

She rolled on her side towards him, propping her head in her hand. "Or legitimate children," she smiled. "Ever been married?"

He just snorted and shook his head.

"Alright, fine," she sighed then. "What's your favorite candy?"

Daryl was quiet for a moment as if he was honestly thinking the question through and wanted to provide the best answer. "Butterfingers," he grunted after a minute.

Beth broke into a small smile. "That's actually not surprising. Fits you well." She remembered he had chosen a Butterfingers from a vending machine during one of their first motel stays.

He looked at her. "Wha's your favorite?" He asked in return.

And just like him, Beth took a moment to think it through. "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups," she decided. "Chocolate and peanut butter are a gift from God," she said and Daryl smirked at that. "You never answered my first question, by the way."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Couldn' figure it out for yourself already?"

"Yes," she answered and she wasn't try why but she felt shy all of a sudden.

There was something about lying on a bed with this man. It wasn't the first bed they had shared together and yet, she felt closer to him now than she did in Carol's house. Maybe it was because they had kissed and were now talking and Beth knew it was probably all of those things but there was something else. Was it because he got into a fight, defending her honor? Or was it just because they were here, together, experiencing all of these things happening in their lives at the same time? She could tell daddy or Maggie all about this trip but there was only one other person in this world who understood her stories exactly.

"No, Beth," Daryl answered, his eyes looking right into hers. "I ain't never been married and I don't have any kids. Anything else you wanna know?"

 _Everything_ , she whispered to herself.

She wanted to ask where he was going; why he had been so determined to get away from his brother. She wanted to ask all sorts of things but she knew that there were certain questions she could ask Daryl until she was blue in the face. He would never answer her. She knew he wasn't going to be coming to California with her. He hadn't actually said that but she could just tell – in the pit of her stomach, she knew. She wondered where they would be when he looked at her and told her it was time for them to part ways. Maybe it would be here after their week. Maybe at the end of it, he would look at her and tell her that he was staying and it was nice knowing her.

She tried not to think about that though. Not yet. She had just met this man and already, she couldn't imagine not seeing him every day. Did it usually happen this fast between two people? Was there always such a connection right away between two people who were meant to meet?

Beth wondered if she was already in love with this man. She wondered if she fell in love with him the instant she saw him, hitchhiking on the side of the road. She wondered if she hadn't stopped to pick him up, would she have somehow met him somewhere else at another time.

So many questions and she couldn't ask Daryl a single one of them. He would probably think she was _Fatal Attraction_ crazy. Thinking of love already after only just a week. Is that how long it had only been? A week?

"What's your favorite song?" She heard herself ask because despite not being too sure exactly what to ask, she knew she wanted to ask him something.

Daryl stared at her, his eyes seeming darker tonight for some reason. His face looked tired but his eyes seemed wide awake and alert; as if he wasn't going to miss a single thing that could possibly happen around him.

"Anythin' you sing," he answered in a low gruff voice, almost a whisper, but Beth had no problem understanding him or hearing him.

Beth looked at him, finding herself absolutely speechless, and she felt her heart fluttering in her chest.

Oh yes, she had definitely fallen in love with Daryl Dixon.

…

T-Dog worked in the kitchen as the cook and Axel was the bartender and he had three waitresses on staff – one for the lunch crowd and two for the dinner crowd – and Daryl found himself doing things around the restaurant that needed to be done but no one else really had the time for.

Helping T unload the food boxes from the delivery truck. Staying on top of taking out the trash. Clearing off tables, mopping up floors, getting Axel bottles of booze he ran out of from the back storage room, covering for Axel at the bar when he had to go to the bathroom, helping the girls out by showing people to their tables and making sure each girl's station was balanced evenly between customers, fixing the leaky sink in the coed bathroom.

It was simple work but it was steady and kept him occupied and he found himself not hating it. It was _honest_ work and he knew when T-Dog handed him his money at the end of the night, he would feel no guilt of putting it in his pocket because he had earned it the right way.

And as he worked, Beth played an hour-long set and he would listen to her as her voice filled the restaurant, her fingers plucking the guitar strings, and he would sometimes get caught up in just looking at her, forgetting about seeing to his own work until he was able to snap himself out of it and quickly look away again as if embarrassed that someone could, by chance, catch him staring at her.

Sheriff Grimes came in that first night with a thin brunette beside him and a young boy with matching brown hair in front of her. Grimes smiled when he saw Daryl as if they were old friends and Daryl wasn't too sure what to do. He wasn't used to law enforcement officers smiling when they saw the looks of him.

But he was in Beauton, Louisiana – far away from Merle and their last name and here, Dixon didn't have to be something bad. Here, in Beauton, Daryl supposed that he could be anything he wanted to be.

"Evening, Daryl," Rick smiled at him once Daryl approached him. "I wanted to bring my family by to hear Beth sing. This is my wife, Lori, and my son, Carl. Lori, this is Daryl Dixon. Him and Beth are staying here in town for a while."

"Nice to meet you," Lori smiled warmly at him and held out her hand and Daryl reminded himself to shake it.

"She sounds great," Rick commented with a smile, looking towards the stage where Beth was in the middle of singing her _Jonathan_ song. "She been on long?" He looked back to Daryl and Daryl nodded.

"'bout an hour now. Gonna be off soon. You wan' a table or a booth?" He asked.

"Booth if you have one," Lori answered and Daryl led them over to a booth beside a window available in Amy's section.

As he turned, his eyes caught Beth on the stage and she was looking at him already. She smiled at him, her lips curving upwards against the microphone, and Daryl gave her a small smile in return.

"Are they married?" He heard Lori ask as he walked away from the table.

"I think they're just together," Rick responded.

"Daryl," Amy, one of the waitresses, hurried to him, slightly out of breath. "Can you help me? Table twelve's got their order up but I really gotta pee. Can you get it?"

"Yeah," he grunted.

"Thanks!" Amy beamed at him and then hurried away as Daryl headed towards the window where T-Dog slid plates of food up on the counter and hit the bell with his spatula.

"Amy peeing again?" T-Dog asked when he saw Daryl taking the two plates. Daryl just nodded, trying to remember which one was table twelve.

"Girl's only three months pregnant and she's already peeing every five minutes," T-Dog muttered to himself as he turned back towards the stove.

Daryl stood there for a minute, looking around the restaurant, trying to guess which one was table twelve and the other waitress, Sasha, saw him looking lost, holding the two plates of food. She approached him with a smile.

"The outside tables are clockwise," she told him as she walked past him to pick her own food up in the window.

Daryl found table twelve – the one right next to the stage – and he headed towards it. As he set the plates of food down in front of the couple sitting there, from the corner of his eye, he could see Beth looking in his direction again and he turned his head, catching her eye. She smiled again and Daryl couldn't help but wonder why the girl smiled all of the time when she saw him. He wondered if he would ever get used to someone being so happy all of the time just with having him around.

But as he wondered this thought, he also reminded himself that he didn't have to get used to it because eventually, he'd be going one way and Beth would be going another. Wasn't exactly his favorite thought to have but it was the truth and it wasn't one he couldn't just forget just because he didn't like it.

Beth finished her song and it was met with warm applause. "Thank you," she smiled broadly at all of the restaurant patrons. "I'm going to take a short break but I'll be back up here in a little bit if you want to stick around for the rest. Thank you," she said again and she carefully set her guitar down and stepped off the stage.

Daryl was at the bar, drinking from a glass of water Axel had poured for him, and Beth headed his way, her smile growing wider the closer she got to him.

"Hi," she greeted him in a soft voice as if she was suddenly shy.

Daryl almost lifted an eyebrow at that. Did this girl know how to be shy? She said whatever was on her mind at all times and rarely apologized for it. Beth Greene may have looked like it but she definitely wasn't some wilting flower.

"Here you go, Beth," Axel said, reaching across the bar, holding out a glass of water.

"Thank you," Beth said gratefully, taking it and helping herself to a greedy chug.

"You hungry?" Daryl asked. "T says we eat for free," he reminded her.

"Did you eat already?" She asked him, looking up at him with those big eyes of her.

Daryl shook his head. "Think I was waitin' for you," he admitted and the answer, though he didn't know why it would, made Beth break out into a beaming smile.

As they headed towards the kitchen together to get some food from T-Dog, they passed Amy and Sasha both on their way to the bar to get their drink orders filled.

"They are so adorable together," Daryl heard Amy say in a loud whisper.

"They're both nice but he's a bit possessive, don't you think? He's like her pit bull. He frowns at any man who's caught looking at her," Sasha said in reply.

"Well, after what happened last night, can you blame him? He's obviously crazy about her. I think it's sweet, he doesn't want anything happening to her," Amy said.

Daryl felt the back of his neck flush and he glanced to Beth from the corner of his eye, wondering if she had heard the two waitresses talking about them. Beth was talking with T-Dog through the window and it seemed like she hadn't heard anything.

Daryl had no idea why he would feel anything like disappointment at that but he did – right in the pit of his stomach, heavy like an anchor. He didn't understand why the hell he had wanted Beth to hear all of that talk anyway. Not like any of it was true. Except for the part about keeping her safe. That'd be true until the day they separated. He'd protect Beth until the day they wouldn't be around together to do it.

As for the rest, Daryl tried to tell himself that he should feel relieved that Beth hadn't seemed to hear any of it. Just waitresses gossiping. Definitely none of it was true.

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading!  
**


	14. On a Porch in a Swamp

**This story has just a couple of more chapters until it's finished.**

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…

 **Chapter Fourteen.** On a Porch in a Swamp.

Beth was sitting on the front porch of T-Dog's house, her fingers strumming the strings of her guitar as she hummed through a song, pausing every now and then to try and play a particular bit with a different note or sing a different word.

It was a hot day. Of course, every day they'd been there had been a hot day. Louisiana had a way of making the air feel like stones settling on your skin, pressing down and even making something as simple as breathing feel like a chore. T had bought some shrubs that needed to be planted in front of the house and Daryl had sweated buckets, helping him. He had been grateful for the break when the phone inside had begun ringing and T had gone to answer it. Daryl now leaned against the shovel, watching Beth and listening to her sing.

They had been Beauton for four days and Daryl couldn't help but worry about what would happen once they reached the end of their week here. He had grown to like it in such a short amount of time but he knew Beth wouldn't want to stay. She was still wanting to head west, to see the bright lights of Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean, and Daryl couldn't think of anything he wanted to do less than that – except maybe go back to Georgia and see his brother again.

But he couldn't just leave Beth. He knew it would happen eventually but he wasn't ready for it yet. He had gotten used to having her around and being around her and he was comfortable around her. He had just met her and already, he couldn't really imagine not being around her anymore. But she was going to California and Daryl didn't know where he was going but he knew it wasn't out there.

Maybe he would stay here. Beauton kind of reminded him of that spot in Mississippi that they had taken a pit stop at in the middle of nowhere. It was quiet here and the town wasn't that big and T-Dog lived away from it all. Being out here, in the swamp, it almost felt as if they weren't part of any state or country anymore. They were all out here on their own and Daryl had been looking for something like that for so long. A place where he could really just be on his own and have his own life.

"I want to be a famous singer/would you be my band?/travel the world together/you can hold my hand." Beth's soft voice filled the air around him.

"New song?" He asked and she smiled, nodding.

"This trip has definitely been giving me plenty of inspiration," she answered and his own lips twitched in a little smile and he came to sit down beside her on the porch.

She didn't sing anymore but her fingers kept plucking the guitar strings. Daryl watched her and then turned his head, looking out over the yard and the dirt road that led up to T's house and the swamp beside them. It was so quiet out here and it was just them for miles. He could definitely get used to this. Hell, he already was used to it and deep down, he had already made up his mind. He wasn't going to leave at the end of the week when it was time to push on.

"What are you thinking about?" Beth asked, breaking into his thoughts, and he turned to see that she had stopped playing and was looking at him with a smile.

He shrugged. "Don' even really know. Bunch of things, I guess," he answered and it was the truth. There was so much going on in his head right now but he didn't know if he wanted to tell her about any of it – yet.

He had said it himself. This girl was going to be famous. He knew she had said that she didn't need fame. She just needed a stage and someone to sing for but he knew that if Beth went out to Los Angeles, she was going to make it. Everyone would know the name Beth Greene soon enough and he would be nothing more than the redneck hitchhiker she drove through a couple of states with and that's all he would ever be. She might not even remember his name in a few years from now.

He did his best to ignore the twisting in his stomach at that thought.

Beth moved her head in closer to him then and Daryl felt his own moving in to meet hers. They hadn't kissed again since that night in Carol's attic but it wasn't as if he hadn't been thinking about it. _Course_ he had been thinking about it. What guy in their right mind would kiss Beth Greene and not want to kiss her again? But he had been taking it slow – didn't know another kind of speed other than that when it came to things like this – and it seemed as if she had been wanting to take it slow, too, not making any moves towards him to show she wanted him to kiss her again.

But now, sitting on the porch so close together, he could feel the soft puffs of warm air exhaling from her nose onto his face and he felt his eyes sliding shut.

This girl… _this girl_ … Would he ever be able to see her going off in one direction while he stayed behind and went in another?

Beth's lips were soft against his and she tasted like some sort of fruit and his hand found the back of her head, fingers tangling in strands of her hair, and he felt her hand come to a light rest on his chest, fingertips touching the side of his neck, not seeming to mind at all that he was drenched in sweat.

Their lips met again and again, slowly, taking their time as if they wanted this to last forever. And deep down, Daryl could admit that that was exactly what he wanted. He thought the best thing he could do in this life was leaving Merle behind but really, a couple of weeks later, he knew it was sticking his thumb out and getting into Beth's Subaru and embarking on this road trip with her. Just a couple of weeks together and he was already so damned attached to her and he wondered if she shared his thoughts. Did she hate the thought of them eventually going in different directions as much as he did? Beth was the most open person he had ever met and she was always talking about what was on her mind or what she was thinking and he knew that if he just asked her about this, she would tell him.

And yet, Daryl didn't ask her because he admitted that he didn't really want to know the answer. He couldn't imagine it would be an answer he wanted to hear. This girl was going out to California and there was nothing that could stop her.

Beth pulled her lips back first and her eyes fluttered open and he looked at her, smiling a little as she smiled happily at him.

"I like it here," she said, breaking the silence between them.

Daryl felt something in his chest lighten at her words. "Yeah?" He asked even as he refused to get his hopes up. So she liked it here. She had liked every place they'd be to so far. Her liking it really didn't matter that much.

"Yeah," she nodded and leaned into him, her head finding a resting place on his shoulder, her face turned to his neck, and Daryl felt his arm slip around her waist, amazed at how comfortable he felt with giving this girl affection. He still felt awkward and unsure but Beth seemed to like it.

He wasn't sure how long they sat there but he hoped T-Dog stayed in the house a little longer because Daryl didn't want this moment to end anytime soon. He could imagine this with her so easily and Daryl had never had thoughts like this before in his life. He had never allowed himself to. There was no good from thinking and dreaming things like this. But he couldn't stop himself and right now, he could imagine him and Beth having a little house like this, out in the country like this, in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the swamp animals as their neighbors. She could sit on the porch all day and play her guitar and sing her songs and Daryl knew he would be content with his life if every day, he could just there and listen to her.

Daryl knew it wouldn't be enough for Beth. That girl had dreams far bigger than living in some tiny house in some swamp with some old dirty redneck like him. She would never have the same dream but for Daryl, he found that this was really the only thing he wanted. He couldn't remember the last time he had wanted anything.

"The song I was just singing, it's about you," she said in a soft voice against his skin.

"You wrote a song about me?" He asked even though he knew she did or else she wouldn't have said it. Beth wasn't the sort to lie.

"I love you, Daryl," she whispered then and Daryl felt his entire body stiffen at her words and Beth, having felt his reaction, lifted her head and pulled back so she could look at him. She didn't look as if she was teasing or looking to take it back but she did look a little nervous, anticipating his reaction.

Daryl just stared at her. Had she really just said that to him? No one had ever said those words to him if they weren't under the influence of drugs or alcohol and the words had never meant anything to him because he knew no one had ever loved him. In his entire life, he had always been alone and had never mattered to anyone.

And now, here he sat in Beauton, Louisiana with the sweetest girl he had ever met and she had just said that she loved him. Just like that. As if they were the easiest words she had ever said. And he knew that to a girl like Beth, loving someone was easy. She had the kind of heart that was filled with love and that love was meant to be shared. Daryl, on the other hand, and never been loved and he didn't know if he knew how to love anything in return. How the hell did a person learn to love something? Or was it something that wasn't learned and was something that a person was just born with knowing how to do?

He stared at her and he told himself that he had to say something. _Anything_. And Beth was waiting for him to but what the hell could he possibly say?

His head turned quickly as the screen door screeched on its hinges as T-Dog pushed it open, stepping onto the front porch, and he could see Beth still looking at him.

"Beth, I heard your cell phone ringing up a storm in your bag," T-Dog said, holding it out to her as it continued ringing in his hand.

Beth finally tore her eyes away from Daryl and smiled faintly up at T-dog, standing up and taking the phone from him. "Thank you," she said to him. "Hello?" She then answered and Daryl watched as she began walking towards the edge of the yard, getting some privacy for herself.

Daryl exhaled a heavy sigh and stood up, feeling heavy with disappointment in himself. Even when he didn't say anything, he managed to screw everything up. He looked to T-Dog and the man was looking at him. Daryl wondered how much he heard because it looked as if he wanted to say something to him but Daryl just shook his head, stopping him before he could.

"Daryl!" Beth suddenly called out his name and he instantly turned to her, watching her hurry back to him and there was something in the way she said his name that made his blood stop pumping in his veins. "That was my sister. Daddy was in a car accident and he's in the hospital and I have to go back to Georgia."

His heart stopped at the words.

Back to Georgia. _Back to Georgia_. He couldn't go back to Georgia. His brother was in Georgia. He had just spent a week putting himself far enough from Merle to where he didn't feel nervous in thinking that his older brother would just show up and drag him back with him. Daryl didn't know what it was but he wasn't strong around Merle. Whatever Merle said to do, Daryl did and he was never able to tell his brother no. If he was back in Georgia, Daryl knew that someone, he and his brother would see each other again and that would be it.

This strange and foreign happiness Daryl had felt over the past week would be nothing but a memory and he would never feel it again. And Beth… this with Beth and being with Beth would be nothing but a memory, too.

He found himself shaking his head before he could stop himself. "I can't go back to Georgia," he heard himself say.

Beth was staring at him, tears in her eyes. "But Daryl…" she began to protest. "I need you," she then said in a quiet voice that slashed at his insides.

She needed him.

But he needed to keep himself away from Merle.

"I can't go with you, Beth," he refused her again. "I'm not goin'."

Beth stared at him and said nothing else and a tear trickled slowly down her cheek. She sniffled and turned to T-Dog. "I'm sorry to be leaving in such a lurch-"

"Don't you dare apologize. You just get home and see to your dad," T-Dog said. "You get yourself packed and I'll make you some food for the road."

Beth didn't argue like she usually would have at the offer. Her mind was going in a million directions and she thought of her daddy, getting prepped to go into surgery and Maggie asking Beth to come back home and Daryl… Daryl not wanting to come with her. He was going to stay here and let her go back alone – even after she told him she needed him; even after she told him she loved him.

He hadn't said anything then and he wasn't saying anything now.

Apparently, nothing she said to him in the past few minutes had meant much to him. And even though she reminded herself that she shouldn't be surprised – of course a person couldn't love another person after just a couple of weeks even though Beth knew without a doubt in her mind that she loved Daryl – she couldn't help but feel the excruciating pain at Daryl's refusal.

She didn't look at him again as she hurried into the house and to the spare bedroom where she and Daryl had been staying. She packed her bag as quickly as possible, making sure she had everything. She paused though as she remembered the envelope of money in her makeup bag. That money was for California but it looked as if she wouldn't be getting to California anytime soon.

She counted out half and keeping one half in her makeup bag, she took the other half and put it back in the envelope before writing a hurried note to Daryl on it and leaving it on his pillow where she knew he wouldn't miss it. She couldn't stop sniffling and more tears were brimming in her eyes and she didn't know if it was more because of her father or because of Daryl.

She went back outside and went to the car in the dirt drive, swinging her bag into the back. T-Dog came out then, a bag in his hands.

"Thank you," she said graciously, setting the bag on the front passenger seat since she would have no passenger with her. "And thank you for everything you've done. These past few days have been some of the best I've ever had."

T-Dog embraced her in a tight hug. "You come back here anytime you want. You'll always have a place to stay and a job here."

Beth hugged him tightly in return and felt a fresh round of tears. Just last night, after another successful performance at Bog Down's, she had sat in a booth with Daryl and they had eaten dinner together and she had had a lingering thought in her mind. She could get used to this. Living here and living with _him_. It wouldn't be a bad life. In fact, it would be pretty wonderful. Simple and quiet. She would be with Daryl and she would have a stage where she could sing her songs and that's all she wanted.

But now, in just a few hours, she was leaving Beauton and Daryl and she would probably never see him again.

Daryl was standing at the edge of the yard, smoking a cigarette and not looking at her. She stood by her car, not sure if she should go to him or not. She had just told him she loved him and she knew he wasn't going to respond in return that he felt the same thing but she had hoped he would have said anything. And then she had told him she needed him and needed him to come back to Georgia with her but he had flat out refused her. She knew there was something with his brother but she didn't know the details. She didn't know much of anything about him.

She found herself watching him and waiting but he kept smoking his cigarette and not looking at her and she realized after just a second that he wasn't going to come say anything to her.

This was it. In the back of her mind, she had known that this would always happen. She would go one way and he would go another but she hadn't been expecting that to happen today and so suddenly like it was.

But it was happening and there was nothing Beth could do to stop it because Beth was going to get back to Georgia as quickly as she could to see her daddy and sister and this would be the last time she would ever see Daryl.

She looked at him for one more lingering moment – as if she was taking a picture of him and she wanted to keep it forever – and then, with one more strained small smile to T-Dog, she got into her car and she didn't look towards Daryl again as she pulled out of the drive and sped down the road.

Away from the house and Beauton, Louisiana and away from Daryl Dixon.

She couldn't help but wonder if he had watched her leave.

…

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 **Thank you very much for reading!  
**


	15. A Dead Horse

**One more chapter to go until this one is finished. I'm going to update the last chapter tomorrow although I'm really going to miss this story when it's done. Thank you so much for the reviews! Each one I get always puts the biggest smile on my face.**

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…

 **Chapter Fifteen.** A Dead Horse.

 _To help you get wherever you're going. I hope you find what you're looking for. Thank you for everything. Love Beth._

The words were like a skipping record, repeating over and over in his head, taunting him and he knew no matter how badly he wished it, he wouldn't be able to just forget what she had written to him.

As soon as she had driven off, Daryl had flicked his cigarette away and then had gone into the house, avoiding the look he knew T-Dog was giving him, and the instant he entered the bedroom – Beth's scent still hanging in the air – he saw the white envelope on the bed. He saw writing on the front and he stared at the words, memorizing them almost instantly and then he had looked in the envelope, recognizing what he was seeing but not understanding it. With slow hands, he pulled the pile of bills from the envelope and counted it to himself. Fifteen hundred dollars. Where the hell had she gotten fifteen hundred dollars? Had she had this the whole time? Had she saved any of it for herself? She better have.

 _I hope you find what you're looking for_.

Daryl stuffed the money back in the envelope, shoved the envelope in his duffel bag and then came out of the house a moment later with his crossbow in his hands, heading into the trees. He stayed out until the sun was heading towards the western part of the sky and he headed back, knowing he had to get to Bog Down's that night. He didn't have a ride anymore, with Beth gone, and he figured he'd just walk to the restaurant. It wasn't that far. But when he came upon the house again, he saw T-Dog there, waiting for him, and without a word, Daryl followed him to the car.

Daryl worked, not talking to anyone. He kept his head town and bussed the tables and helped Amy and Sasha with carrying food and he took out the trash and tried to ignore the empty stage. And the whole time, Beth's written words echoed in his mind. At least she had signed it _Love Beth_. At least he still had that. Just a few hours ago, he had had her. Sitting on a porch, holding her, kissing her and now, she was probably two states away and that was that.

It had all happened so quickly. She had told him she loved him and while he was still trying to figure out what to say to that, she had gotten the call and suddenly, she was asking him to come back to Georgia with her. His head started spinning and hadn't stopped and he didn't want her to go without him but he hadn't wanted to go either. He _couldn't_ go. Georgia was bad news and he was trying to stay away from it. He knew Beth didn't know all of the details – because he hadn't told her – but she had known that he had been trying to get away from that state. He couldn't go back.

But Beth had to go and he had watched her go and he told himself that he should be used to disappointment in his life by now. Good things never happened to him and Beth was the best thing to ever happen to him but he should have known better than to think that it would have lasted forever.

"Hey, Daryl." He lifted his head and saw Amy hurrying towards him. He nodded, already knowing what she needed him to do. He wondered what the rest of her pregnancy would be like if she was peeing this much and the whole thing had hardly started. "You're the best! Table two!" She called out as she hurried away.

Daryl went to the window to collect the food and then headed towards table two. He had the tables all memorized now and was able to find them without Sasha helping him. He wasn't entirely surprised to see the Sheriff and his wife sitting there.

"Hey, it's quiet in here tonight," Rick said and Daryl nodded, not saying anything as he placed the plates of food down in front of him and Lori. "Beth feeling alright?"

"She headed back to Georgia this afternoon," Daryl finally spoke even though Beauton was a small southern town and he knew everyone there already knew that.

But to the man's credit, Rick was able to look surprised. "You didn't go with her?" He asked though it was pretty clear he didn't since he was there, handing out his food.

Daryl shook his head. "I'm not goin' back there," was all he said before he turned and left the table, heading off to the next task in the restaurant that had to be seen to.

He knew most people in Bog Down's and in Beauton thought that he and Beth had been together. Some had even thought they were married and though he heard these thoughts and wanted to snort at how ridiculous they were, deep down he didn't think they were ridiculous at all because he admitted he liked the way it all sounded. Beth and him being together just sounded right to him. He had barely known the girl – and she definitely hadn't known anything about him – but he had never been as comfortable with another person, especially not a woman, as quickly nor deeply as he had gotten comfortable when with her.

And now she was gone and he couldn't imagine ever seeing her again because he couldn't see himself ever going back to Georgia. Maybe years from now, he would feel strong enough in the odds of seeing Merle and being able to stand on his own two feet against him but for now, the more space between him and Merle was for the best. Daryl had left, trying to find a place of his own somewhere in this world and traveling with Beth, he had felt like maybe he would be able to find it and maybe, he would be able to find it somewhere with her.

It would never happen now though. She was going back to Georgia and then she would probably head right for Los Angeles and Beauton wasn't a bad place. Actually, it was pretty good and Daryl could see himself staying here – with or without Beth.

If it all hadn't happened this afternoon as quickly as it had, Daryl wondered what he would have done. Would he have told her that he loved her, too? Probably not. He didn't know how to say something like that to a person and he didn't even really know what love was. Had never really felt it before. Maybe for his mom like all kids loved their moms when they were little but his mom had died and he had been young and he could hardly remember her anymore. And maybe he loved Merle, too, even though he was pretty sure he actually hated him more than loved.

No, Daryl didn't know anything about love. How to take it or how to give it.

But maybe… maybe he could have figured that all out with Beth. If he had had time to think about it before everything had been tossed into a whirlpool and he hadn't had any time to think about or process anything, maybe he could have figured something out that didn't have him still here and her gone.

As he headed to the kitchen with a bin of dirty dishes from having cleaned off a couple of tables, someone began playing Etta James on the jukebox and Daryl decided it was time to go out back and take his smoke break.

…

Axel had to use the bathroom and Daryl took over bar duties for the time being. He mixed Sasha two whiskey sours and handed them over to her just as Rick left his table and headed his way. Daryl found himself taking a deep breath. It was strange to him to not hate a member of law enforcement but after only being in Beauton for a few days, he could tell that Sheriff Rick was a good guy. Most of the people here were and it only made his decision to stick around a little bit easier.

"Can I get a cherry coke for Lori?" He asked and Daryl nodded, grabbing a glass.

Daryl didn't say anything. He just waited for Rick to speak because he knew it was the only reason Rick came up here. He could have easily told Amy about the coke.

"Are you wanted for anything in Georgia? Is that why you can't go back?" Rick asked and Daryl couldn't even be angry at the question.

It made sense. He refused to go back to Georgia and why would that be unless the instant he stepped back across state lines he would be arrested? He almost wished it was for something logical like that because not going back simply because his brother was there probably didn't make too much sense to too many people.

"It ain't like that," Daryl answers with a shake of his head. "Just can't go back there."

"Will Beth be coming back then?" Rick continued to press.

Daryl shrugged, no longer looking at him, busying himself with wiping glasses.

"Prob'ly not," he shook his head, keeping his eyes on anything but the man across the bar from him. "Girl was never meant for a little town like this."

Rick didn't say anything to that and he was so quiet, Daryl thought he had walked away but lifting his eyes, he saw Rick still standing right there.

"She seemed to be more than happy here," Rick noted.

"Jus' 'cause she seemed happy here doesn' mean she would have stayed that way."

Rick cracked a slow grin at Daryl's reply and Daryl blinked at him, confused. Rick chuckled then and shook his head.

"So you're one of them."

"One of who?" Daryl couldn't help but frown.

"One of those people who think they don't deserve what's right in front of them."

Rick didn't say anything else. He just took his cherry coke and headed back to his wife and table and Axel came back from the bathroom, relieving Daryl of bar duty. He went into the kitchen to help T out and he was looking forward to being away from everyone but if he thought he would be getting a reprieve, he was wrong.

"You know," T-Dog began almost as soon as Daryl began cutting carrots and onion on the prep table and Daryl stopped himself before he could sigh. "I'm extending my invitation to you past this week. You can stay in that room for as long as you want and you can work here for as long as you want, too."

"Thanks. I didn't really have any plans past this for myself," Daryl said with a head nod but he should have known T wasn't done yet.

"And when Beth comes back, she can stay, too. Liked having you two around," T-Dog smiled then as he flipped the burgers cooking on the griddle. "Like a better version of Three's Company."

Daryl sighed and began bringing the knife down harder against the carrots, feeling his frustration about the whole damn thing grow. "Beth ain't comin' back. We only knew each other for two weeks. There's no reason for her to come back here."

 _I hope you find whatever you're looking for._

T-Dog just looked at him. "Doesn't really matter how long two people know each other. Sometimes, you're lucky enough to find the person in this world you're supposed to find. And a girl doesn't tell a guy she loves him if she doesn't see a reason in some of this."

Daryl didn't say anything. He was done talking about it. It hadn't even been six hours yet and everyone had already kicked the dead horse but it didn't change anything. Beth was gone and she wasn't going to be coming back here and there wasn't anything Daryl could do about it.

…

Hershel lingered in the doorway of the kitchen, watching his youngest daughter as she put the finishing touches on the dinner she had prepared for them that evening.

After his accident – a car running a stop sign and crashing right into the driver's side of his car – and surgery, he had stayed in the hospital for another week before he had been able to come home. Maggie had to get back to Atlanta, to her job, but Beth was able to stay at the farm with him, telling him she wasn't going anywhere. He hadn't been sure what she had meant at the time. She wasn't going anywhere until he was fully recovered or she wasn't going anywhere ever?

Hershel might have been an old man but he wasn't blind or stupid. His daughter had only been away from home for two weeks but something had happened to her out there on the road. He just had no idea what it could be. What could happen in the span of two weeks for his bright as sunshine and bubbly daughter to come home to him, quiet and weighed down with her own thoughts?

She had been here for almost a month now but Hershel was still waiting for Beth to come home.

He listened as she began humming a soft song but she didn't sing the words as she placed two plates down at the table along with silverware.

"Daddy! Dinner!" Beth called out then, unaware he was standing right there.

"Smells delicious, Bethy," Hershel said, stepping into the kitchen, and she was startled for a moment, having not expecting him to be right there, and then she smiled, setting a glass of water and three of his pain pills down beside it.

He settled himself in his chair and dutifully took his pills as she served him a baked chicken breast, wild rice and carrots. She then served herself and sat down across from him. They bowed their heads as Hershel spoke grace and they then began to eat their meal, Beth as quiet as she had been over the past month.

Hershel decided that the time for his daughter to speak had come.

"I liked the sounds of that song you were just humming. Don't think I've heard that one before," Hershel commented.

"Oh, it was just one I wrote during my trip," Beth replied.

"Maybe you could sing it for me later," he suggested. "What's it about?"

A look of sadness washed over her face, so obvious that it made Hershel pained just looking at it. She gave her head a slight shake. "Just about a man," she said softly and she lowered her eyes to her plate as if ending the conversation but Hershel was going to seize the opportunity.

"What man?" He asked and he should have known a man was the cause for his daughter's melancholy mood. Only love could make a person so downtrodden.

"A man I met on the road…" Beth trailed off then as if she was thinking of him in that moment and she probably was. Her face got a far off look and then she visibly swallowed, lowering her eyes to the plate again. "I screwed it all up though. I sprung too many things on him at once and then got upset when I didn't give him time to answer. I pushed…" She trailed off and got quiet for a moment.

"His name's Daryl," she then offered without Hershel asking her for it. "I picked him up about an hour away from here. He was on the side of the road and I saw him and I… I got a good feeling about him. That he was a good man," she said.

Hershel tried not to frown at the idea of his daughter picking up a hitchhiker.

"And was he a good man?" Hershel asked.

Beth nodded and visibly swallowed once more. "He was. He _is_. I… I fell in love with him. Somewhere between here and Louisiana. I fell in love with him."

Hershel looked at Beth because instead of looking happy as most people looked when they spoke of being in love, Beth looked on the verge of tears. He reached a hand out across the table and placed it over Beth's and it was as if he was finally able to open the locked gate that had been over Beth's mouth since she got home.

Hershel spent the rest of dinner and dessert and the washing of the dishes – Hershel washing and Beth drying – hearing all about Daryl Dixon.

He heard about the motel rooms and the maintenance he did to get them a room for the night. He heard about the karaoke night and winning first prize and the Windsor Ruins and the coffee and cigarettes at BP stations and buying blackberries and a crossbow and doing laundry and changing a woman's flat tire and then helping her with things around her house and she told him about Beauton and how Daryl had defended her against some rather uncomfortable audience members.

He heard about it all. Everything that had happened with her in the past two weeks and the more Beth spoke, it was as if she couldn't stop and Hershel heard of how she had fallen in love with this man. Hershel was curious about him and he had a few questions. It sounded like Beth didn't know that much about Daryl's own story but what she did know, Hershel thought he did sound to be a good man – especially the part about him looking out for his daughter and keeping her safe and making sure she always had a roof over her head.

Hershel didn't interrupt, not wanting to get in the middle of Beth's story because he was finding it to be a rather fascinating story, and it was only when Beth stopped herself to take a breath did Hershel take the moment to finally speak.

"So, what are you going to do?" He asked.

"About what?" Beth asked, her brow furrowed as she looked at him.

He smiled a little at her, almost wanting to laugh because it seemed as if Beth honestly didn't know how this story was going to end. "About Daryl and getting your butt back to Beauton."

…

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 **Thank you so much for reading!**


	16. Life as a Song

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 **Chapter Sixteen.** Life as a Song.

It had been a month – not that Daryl was counting. He was still in the room in T-Dog's house and had tried to give the man rent for it but he wouldn't accept it. He just had Daryl help out with the electricity and cable bills and Daryl was more than happy to do that. He was making minimum wage at Bog Down's, the restaurant's official handyman and prep cook now, and he didn't have much to spend his money on. He bought food and a couple new shirts and pairs of underwear and shoelaces for his boots and a few more bolts for his crossbow but he had never been a man who needed that much in this world.

There was also the money Beth had left him but that was still stuffed to the bottom of his duffel bag, untouched. He had this asinine idea that maybe, one day, he'd be able to give it back to her.

It had been a month without Beth and he wondered where she was. He wondered if she was still in Georgia or if she had flown right over his head one day, heading out west to Los Angeles. Every time he turned on the radio, he expected to hear one of her songs playing. And if he really felt like torturing himself, he would wonder if she still thought about him as much as he thought about her.

Most days, he was able to get through most of his day without thinking about her, always keeping himself busy enough, but in the mornings and evenings, he couldn't think of anything _but_ her. In two weeks, he had gotten used to her sleeping in the same room with him and then, he had gotten used to sleeping in the same bed with her. Hearing her soft breath and feeling her warm body, he had never been one for being so close to another person but there was something about Beth's body curled beside him – first on that twin bed in Carol's attic and then this twin bed in T-Dog's spare bedroom. He had a hell of a hard time falling asleep without her.

Daryl was starting to make a life for himself in Beauton. He had a job and a place to live and T-Dog had a bunch of junk in his garage that he told Daryl to help himself to and in his spare time, Daryl was working on building himself a motorcycle. He had really missed riding a bike and he couldn't help but picture having Beth with her arms wrapped around his waist from behind, riding around with him.

He had picked up hunting again, cherishing the crossbow Beth had bought him and able to spend whole days out in the woods, and he and T-Dog, along with Rick, had taken T's boat out into the swamp, and Daryl had hunted his first alligator. He had also had his first taste of it when T-Dog put deep fried alligator bites on Bog Down's menu and he found himself to really like it. Though he was pretty sure anyone would like anything if it was deep fried.

He was living a life he had never thought he would have for himself, too busy playing in Merle's shadow. Here, he was doing things and trying things he had never thought of before and he was making friends with people he never would have met if Merle was still right by his side and he was getting what he always wanted. A quiet life.

He could only hope Beth was getting what she wanted, too.

"Daryl!"

He quickly dropped the cigarette he was smoking to the ground when Amy came out the back door. He didn't like to smoke around her. She was almost five months along now and it was if her baby bump seemed to pop out overnight. He didn't know anything about babies and pregnancy but he knew smoking around her wasn't good. He didn't know who the father was and he got the feeling that no one else except Amy knew and she wasn't telling. Whoever he was, he didn't seem to be in the picture. But Daryl wasn't too worried. In the time he had gotten to know Amy, he had figured out that she was pretty tough and could handle things herself.

Except when she had tables waiting for food and had to go to the bathroom.

"What table?" He asked, pushing himself off the wall.

Amy smiled and her cheeks were redder than usual, he noticed. He noticed things like that about all his coworkers. Amy was blonde-haired and blue-eyed like Beth but Amy was more developed. A larger chest and more flare to her hips. Beth was on the smaller built side and people would look at her and probably think she was delicate though Daryl knew better than to think that about her. Beth was probably the toughest girl he had ever met and she didn't need to wear leather or drink like the boys to show she was; nothing like the woman Merle usually hung around with.

He never looked at Amy and was reminded of Beth. They were two completely different people and Amy's blonde-haired, blue-eyed combo wasn't what he preferred, he had learned. He liked Amy. She was a real nice girl and he sometimes caught her looking at him. He just wasn't looking for anything like that right now. Probably never. He had already found it once and even though it was gone, he didn't think it would ever happen again. He didn't expect it to.

"Table one," she said. "I know you're on break and I would have asked Sasha but I think she's out in the parking lot, breaking up with Bob," she said as they headed back inside.

"Again?" Daryl smirked a little and Amy giggled, turning and heading towards the bathroom as Daryl headed towards the window.

"Hey!" T-Dog exclaimed when he saw him as if they hadn't just seen one another. "That tray there," he pointed to a tray with two sandwiches on two plates. Daryl frowned when he saw them. What the hell were these? These weren't on the menu. They looked like they were just plain peanut butter sandwiches on white bread.

Daryl looked to T-Dog with a frown, waiting for an explanation, but T-Dog had already turned back to his griddle, resuming singing the Marvin Gaye song that was currently playing over the jukebox.

Still confused, Daryl just shook his head and took the tray, heading towards table one. An Etta James song started playing next – _"A Sunday Kind of Love"_ – and Daryl was scowling now. Who the hell would play that song out of every other song on there? His ears couldn't stand the sound of that damn song.

He was still scowling as he approached the table against the wall in the corner and then he looked at who he was bringing food to. He nearly dropped the tray once he saw her sitting there and he wondered if he had reached the point in missing her so badly, he was now hallucinating her.

Beth was looking at him and a faint smile was across her face as their eyes met.

Daryl wasn't too sure what to do. He didn't know if she was really there or if he had finally lost his mind after a month. But his feet kept moving him forward, taking him closer to the table, and when he was close enough, he could smell her familiar sweet scent and see the familiar twinkling in her eyes.

"Hi," she spoke first and he almost closed his eyes because he had never heard anything better in this world than Beth's voice. For a man who liked quiet all the time, he knew he could listen to Beth filling the air with her chatter for the rest of his life. And he almost felt his ears turn red for having such a stupid thought.

"What are you doin' here?" He asked and it wasn't exactly what he wanted to say to her but it was definitely something he had to know the answer to.

"Well, if you're able to take your break, I was hoping you would be able to eat with me," Beth said and she didn't stop smiling.

"Finally on your way to LA?" He asked.

Beth shook her head and Daryl set the peanut butter sandwich down in front of her. He had lost count of how many of these things they had eaten together – out there on that road. He looked around. Amy and T-Dog had obviously been in on this and looking towards the bar, he saw Axel smiling and whistling and casting not so subtle looks towards their table.

Slowly, Daryl slid into the bench seat across from her. Beth gave him a smile and then picked up her sandwich, taking a bite.

"Those alligator bites on the special board sound really good," she commented.

Daryl just looked at her. How the hell was this girl just able to talk as if nothing had happened? As if they did this every night? For a while, this was exactly what they had done but that had been a month ago and they had gone their own ways.

Hadn't they?

Daryl shrugged a shoulder. "They're a'right."

"Anything deep-fried is," Beth said, voicing his earlier thought.

Daryl picked up the other sandwich and took a bite, looking at her, as she took another bite of her own. "What are you doin' here, Beth?" He asked again. He wondered if this was just a stop along the way for her and she had only come to see him and say goodbye to him one more time. He didn't think he'd be able to handle that again.

He hadn't even handled it the first time.

"Well, I wrote a new song and T-Dog wanted me to come and sing it," she said.

Daryl just kept frowning. That didn't answer his question. If anything, that just gave him about a thousand more questions he wanted to ask her. She took another bite of her sandwich and Daryl remembered his own, taking a bite, feeling the peanut butter weigh on his tongue and he nearly choked on it as he swallowed.

"Are you goin' to LA?" He was able to ask once he got the bite of sandwich down.

"I haven't been going to LA for a long time now," she said with a slight shake of her head but Daryl kept staring at her and he couldn't stop frowning.

"Talkin' in riddles, girl," he muttered.

"I'm sorry," she smiled at that. "I just meant, I haven't wanted to go to LA for a long time now. Sometime around Vicksburg, I think," she said and Daryl just blinked at her. "I never really needed to go to LA. I just convinced myself it was what I should do if I wanted to sing but I figured out along the way that I would just need a stage and people to hear my songs and that would be enough."

Daryl refused to get his hopes up. Nothing came from getting his hopes up except the taste of bitter disappointment.

"I went back to Georgia to take care of my daddy though he's a tough man and doesn't need anyone taking care of him for too long. And I told him all about you and he asked me when I was getting back here to Beauton and to you and the whole thing is just so _obvious_ , you know?" She said and Daryl felt as if he was no longer breathing. "This is really the only place I need to be. And with you… I need to be with you, too, Daryl."

"What about what you wan'?" He asked.

Beth just smiled and shook her head again. "You're not a stupid man, Daryl. Don't go acting like you are. I'm sitting here, in Beauton, Louisiana eating peanut butter sandwiches with you. I think it's pretty obvious what I want."

 _Don't get your hopes up. Don't get your hopes up_ , Daryl kept repeating silently to himself, reminding himself to stay smart. She was saying everything he had been hoping to hear for this past month but hoping was a waste of time, most times.

"I love you, Daryl," Beth said as she if she was telling him the sky was blue and he was envious of her and how easy it was for her to say that. "The last time I said that to you, I didn't give you enough time to answer me. _Not_ that you have to answer me. I know you don't love me and that's okay. But this time, I'll be around in case, someday, you think that you do love me and want to tell me."

 _I love you_ , Daryl almost instantly said in his head but he couldn't say the words – his throat too thick with peanut butter and the inability of saying three words strung together he had never said before.

"I…" was the only thing he was able to get out before he had to stop.

Beth smiled though. "Don't worry, Daryl. We have time."

Daryl just stared at her and wondered if he was still out back, somehow having fallen asleep during his smoke break and he was now dreaming this whole thing. "Beth," he said her name then and she looked at him, her attention undivided upon him. "There's a lot I gotta tell you," he said.

Merle and his old man and his childhood and the scars and what he had been doing for the past few years and why he couldn't bring himself to get back to Georgia.

And Beth smiled softly at him as if she already knew everything. "I'm not going anywhere," she said to him quietly. "You can tell me whenever you're ready."

Daryl found himself exhaling a deep breath and for the first time since seeing her again, he felt himself smiling a little.

"So your pops is okay?" He asked and Beth smiled at the question.

"As good as new," she answered. "He said he's going to want to come out here and visit us. Meet you. One of these days."

"Daryl, sorry to interrupt." They both looked to see that Sasha now stood at their table. "Things are getting a little crazy and Axel needs help behind the bar."

"A'right," Daryl nodded and shoved the last bit of sandwich in his mouth as he slid out of the booth. He only took a couple of steps away before he remembered something and turned back. He leaned down, his hand on the back of Beth's head, and he pressed his lips to hers in a quick, firm kiss. "Don't go anywhere," he said.

She blushed deeply, looking up at him. "I have to go to the bathroom though," she smiled and he smirked a little before kissing her one more time and finally pushing himself away, heading towards the bar.

Oddly enough, Thursday nights were one of Bog Down's busiest nights. People getting ready for the weekend and wanting to take advantage of the two dollar Bud Light bottles that were on special.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," T-Dog spoke from the stage into the microphone and Daryl looked up from popping caps off bottles to see Beth standing on stage behind him, her guitar strapped on and a smile on her face. "After a short hiatus, Beth Greene has returned to us and has accepted my offer of a more permanent gig for her here. Let's all give her a Bog Down's welcome back!"

Beth was met with loud cheers and warm applause and she smiled as she stepped forward, adjusting her guitar and taking her place behind the microphone.

"Thank you so much and I'm so happy to be back here. I've missed this place like crazy," she said.

"We've missed you, too!" Axel called out and it was met with claps and cheers of agreement and Beth smiled, giggling softly.

"This is a new song that I just finished writing and this will be my first time performing it so I hope you like it," she spoke and then her fingers began plucking the guitar strings and then she began singing.

Daryl tried to keep his mind on work, mixing drinks and filling the orders that Sasha and Amy dropped off, but he kept looking towards the stage and watching as Beth sang the song in her sweet voice with her eyes closed and all he wanted to do was just stop everything, sit down and watch her without interruption. He could still hardly believe that she was actually here.

" _Am I sayin' too much,  
Way too soon?  
Well, my only confidant is this empty room.  
And my only response is the echo of my voice.  
When I'm fallin' in love,  
It's like I have no choice.  
From my heart, to my throat, to my lips, to the air,  
I don't wish for much,  
But I wish you were here.  
We need to check this out.  
Oh, check me in.  
I'm not into playing games,  
But I do fight to win."_

Daryl listened to those words as she sang them and he knew it was about him. About _them_. There was a them now and Beth had written a song for them. He stood behind the bar and didn't care about pouring drinks anymore. He stared at Beth and she felt his eyes on her because her eyes opened then and they immediately found him and she smiled instantly. Daryl felt himself smiling, too.

"She staying?" A voice asked and Daryl moved his eyes to see Rick standing across from him, off duty and in jeans and a tee-shirt with a bottle of beer.

"She makes it sound that way," Daryl answered with a single head nod.

Rick smiled. "Good. I'm happy for you."

Daryl couldn't help but have his brow furrow. "Why?"

Rick just kept smiling and he shrugged. "I like to see my friends happy." He said it as casually as Beth had told him that she loved him but Daryl stood there, unable to do anything else as he dealt with the impact they left.

Friends. Rick considered him a friend. Did he consider Rick the same? Daryl had to think about that. He had actually never had any friends besides Merle. And now, he supposed he had a whole bunch of them in this town. He had a girl who loved him and he had friends and Daryl didn't know what to do about any of it except stand there and let himself smile.

…

Beth hummed to herself as she combed her hair out once she got out of the shower. She heard thunder rumbling lowly off in the distance and Daryl said that judging by how the wind was shifting, the storm would be heading right their way. One of Beth's favorite things was to be cozy in bed with a thunderstorm outside. And now, she got to do one of her favorite things with Daryl right next to her in bed.

Daryl. She smiled at just the knowledge of him being right across the hall in _their_ small bedroom. And in just a few minutes once she was done with her hair and had changed into her pajamas, she would be able to be next to him.

Coming back to Beauton and to Daryl hadn't taken much thought. None at all, if she was honest. She had told her dad all about her adventure and Daryl being right there at her side and she knew that that's where she always wanted him. She didn't want to go through another adventure – another day – without Daryl Dixon next to her.

She may have been able to easily say the words but she didn't take them lightly. She loved Daryl, was in love with Daryl, and that meant everything in the world to her. She didn't need Los Angeles or fame or anything else Daryl was so convinced that she could so easily have. She just needed him.

And perhaps a little stage – which she had now, too.

Wherever he was, that's where she would be.

Braiding her damp hair back from her face, she pulled on fresh underwear and her soft NASA tee-shirt and left the bathroom, heading into their bedroom. The house was quiet. After closing the restaurant, T-Dog had gone out with a woman he had begun dating though he was keeping it his own secret for now, not telling anyone who she was. He said when the time was right, he would bring her around so Daryl and Beth could meet her and he could get the roommates' stamp of approval on her. Beth had beamed at that, loving how that sounded.

As expected, Daryl was stretched out on the bed as if waiting for her and Beth supposed that he was. Her eyes fell on the familiar envelope beside him and without a word, she went to her bag and took out her own envelope. She then climbed onto the bed and laid down beside him. Daryl lifted his arm and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and making her smile. She took the money from his envelope and the money from hers and combined it into one stack.

"Three thousand dollars," she said. "We can do anything we want with this. Go anywhere. See anything."

"'s your money," he said. "Up to you what we do with it."

"No," she adjusted her head on his chest. "It's _our_ money and it will be our decision."

Daryl was quiet at that and Beth snuggled closer to him, resting the stack of money on his stomach and closing her eyes. The thunder rumbled closer now and Daryl was so warm and she lifted one of her legs, sliding it along his. His thumb began brushing back and forth along her shoulder.

"Maybe we could stay here for a while," Daryl finally said in a low voice, as if he was still thinking it through and wasn't entirely sure of his suggestion.

But Beth only smiled and tried to snuggle as close to him as she could. "That sounds wonderful," she said and she tilted her head up towards him when she felt his lips to the top of her head. She smiled at him and Daryl looked into her face. "We could stay here… start building a life.. together," she said softly, her smile faint.

Daryl never looked away from her face. "Together," he echoed and then smiled, too.

Beth opened her mouth to ask him how long he thought they should stay with T-Dog before they start looking for their own place somewhere in Beauton but Daryl clearly was done talking for a while. Before she could say anything else, Daryl suddenly rolled towards her, his lips finding hers and his body covering hers. Beth was surprised for a moment but then she quickly gave herself over, her arms sliding around him and matching his kisses with kisses of her own.

Oh, yes, she could definitely stay here in Beauton forever. With Daryl.

Especially when she felt his hands start to slowly sweep down the sides of her body and his tongue slowly thrust into her mouth to meet hers and her fingers raked through his hair.

And if they ever did decide to leave, they would decide together – always together from this moment on – and they would do what they've always done. They would go wherever the road decided to take them and they could do anything they wanted. There was a whole world out there for them if they ever wanted to see it but for now, there was nothing in their world except this bed in this small house in this small town with a thunderstorm sweeping in.

…

* * *

 **The End.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all liked this ending! I am going to really miss this story. I'm sure I'll visit it again someday.**


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